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  1.  Home
  2. RPG400-L
  3. May 2006

Re: RPG, 10 years from now


[SNIP]

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

[SNIP]

A few points:
a) No PC language (.NET's C#, Visual C, Visual Basic, etc) will still be compatible in 10 years with what you write today. So, even if the languages still exist, you'll have had to re-write the code, or will be using an unsupported release of the compiler/runtime. 

b) If RPG dies, the System i family will also probably fail to exist.
c) IBM has stated that RPG IV will continue to be enhanced and developed for the foreseeable future.
d) How long RPG lasts is directly related to the way it's used. If customers refuse to adopt anything new, IBM will phase it out. If customers continue to use it and grow with it, and write new advanced software in it, then it'll stay around.
Unfortunately, it's hard to make the case that you can write modern programs in RPG when the adoption rate of RPG IV didn't live up to expectations, the adoption rate of ILE is even worse. If people continue to write code in RPG IV the way they did in RPG III, or worse, continue to write RPG III code, then RPG is going to struggle to survive.
And, also unfortunately, this isn't due to any problem with the language itself, it's due to the fact that sooooo many shops aren't willing to upgrade their skills or practices.
That won't happen in a PC environment, and the main reason it won't is because the languages won't be the same in 10 years, and you'll be forced to upgrade to something else.

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