RE: RPG, 10 years from now

LOL!

>>In all serious-ness the only reason George used EXUI is so the RPG
>>programmers present would have a vague understanding of where he was going.
>>he could have just as easily used something like "DspUI();"

Certainly he could have, but that's my point. He is using EXUI, just like he
used EVAL-CORR for "Evaluate with subfield Mapping" but because COBOL had "MOVE
CORRESPONDING", he used EVAL-CORR instead of MOVE-CORR or EvalMap. So now we
have opcodes with hyphens in them and silly suffixes that mean nothing to people
who entered the marketplace after 1978. 
If it is EXUI in the examples, its gonna be EXUI in the end result because
nobody is going to challenge it.

Hopefully EXUI means "Kill the Supreme Rhino" when translated literally to some
native language in a country IBM is strategically trying to enter. Otherwise...
you already no the opcode name. :(

-Bob Cozzi
www.iSeriesTV.com
iPod your industry news instead of reading it.
Coming June 2006
Ask your friends to tune into iSeriesTV.com


-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of albartell
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 10:22 AM
To: 'RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries'
Subject: RE: RPG, 10 years from now

>EXUI?  Kill me now! 

[Aaron preps the ether drenched rag and places it over Bob's mouth. Aaron
places a copy of "The Modern RPG IV Language, 2nd Edition" on Bob's folded
arms to invoke irony. Aaron pushes Bob out into the ocean on a raft built
with the count-less Java books Bob had in his cube.]    
        
Sorry, Bob, I couldn't resist!  LOL!

In all serious-ness the only reason George used EXUI is so the RPG
programmers present would have a vague understanding of where he was going.
He could have just as easily used something like
"displayUserInterface(getScreenDefinition(), true);" but that would have
meant zero to most in attendance.

They have a tough job on their hands. Implementing new technology and while
doing that ensuring they don't leave a big percentage of the population in
the dust.  I think the slow ramp-up of features these past couple of years
is a great precedence to a HUGE RPG release. We will have to see if that
happens (the HUGE RPG release).

Aaron Bartell


-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces+albartell=gmail.com@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rpg400-l-bounces+albartell=gmail.com@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob
Cozzi
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 10:06 AM
To: 'RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries'
Subject: RE: RPG, 10 years from now

The problem with these opcode names that they through out there to resemble
existing opcode names so that they are familiar and are associated with
existing ones, is... they stick. EXUI?  Kill me now!
I actually liked it when IBM banned the word Execute from it materials.
EXECUTE FORMAT and now EXECUTE USER INTERFACE, oh bother. ;( Tut tut...
looks like rain.

-Bob Cozzi
www.RPGxTools.com
RPG xTools - Enjoy programming again.


-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Holden Tommy
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 9:14 AM
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: RE: RPG, 10 years from now

 <snip>
My favorite bit of info he shared was their thought process of determining
how the next versions of RPG will interact with the user. Specifically
speaking they were mentioning new OPCODE's like EXUI (vs. EXFMT) which would
give us the ability to "execute" a ui that was a web page, or maybe a WML
app for a blackberry.
</snip>

I wasn't there but THIS is something RPG needs a "native" way to communicate
with multiple UI's built into the language....also one of the items on my
personal wishlist ;-)


Thanks,
Tommy Holden


-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of albartell
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 9:01 AM
To: 'RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries'
Subject: RE: RPG, 10 years from now

 >I doubt if it will be enhanced any further in 10 years, but it will still
be around. A compiler written today will still work in 10 years.

To the contrary, it will be changed more in the next 5 years than it has in
the past 15!  I am working on a blog entry for imho.midrange.com on this
exact topic.  I attended the rpgworld.com conference this past month and had
the chance to hear George Farr discuss "potentially" where the RPG language
could be going. Of course he has to be vague because they haven't completely
and publicly committed to the feature list, but what he was brining up got
me excited!

My favorite bit of info he shared was their thought process of determining
how the next versions of RPG will interact with the user. Specifically
speaking they were mentioning new OPCODE's like EXUI (vs. EXFMT) which would
give us the ability to "execute" a ui that was a web page, or maybe a WML
app for a blackberry.

The second bit of information that caught my attention was the possibility
of a name change.  I have mixed feelings about this because of IBM's name
changing history.  Maybe if I saw a list of new names for RPG I would be
more comfortable.  But regardless, for a name change to mean anything it
would have to be coupled with the release of new language features that
would make non-iSeries shops want to hop onto the iSeries horse for
application development.

The third bit of info that peaked my interest was the mention of making RPG
completely /free format including all specifications (H, F, D, etc).  I have
mixed feelings on this one too because right now it is fast to code H, D,
and F specs because everything just lines up and it is easy to read.
But on
the other hand this is our chance to get RPG into the limelight as the next
great language with a great framework (look at what rubyonrails.org has
accomplished in the last 1.5 years). Why can't RPG be the next RubyOnRails?
Why can't RPG be the reason NEW sales come to the iSeries vs. just being the
reason existing customers stay on the iSeries.  For that to happen we will
have to lose some of the specific feel we have for the language (i.e.
H,F,
and D specs) so new programmers can easily learn it.

What if IBM went after RPG full force as much as they do Java?  What if they
made it incredibly easy to build web applications with it?  That coupled
with a solid hardware and OS platform would be priceless to people wanting a
solid web presence.

Aaron Bartell

-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Michael Ryan
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 8:14 AM
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Re: RPG, 10 years from now

I doubt if it will be enhanced any further in 10 years, but it will still be
around. A compiler written today will still work in 10 years.

On 5/26/06, steema@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <steema@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> HI - This is a Friday topic. But, I was having a conversation w/ the 
> company Controller. He indicated that he was concerned regarding the 
> long term support for the RPG language. He is not an IT guy, but is 
> very industry savvy.
>
> I immediatly laughed and said no way, the support will always be
there.
>
> Then he got me to thinking, what if he is right?
>
> Does anyone else share this concern?
>
> Steve
> --
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