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

Re: Converting RPG to RPGLE

Good for you! It always amazes me that in the System i RPG universe we have 
to "prove" the value of modular programming techniques before we can use
them. Since every other programming language has used them extensively and 
effectively for eons it seems to me it should just be common sense.
Well spoken! It's really a pain if you always have to convince your management using new technologies. My management prefers that even new programs get written in RPGIII, because "it's easier to copy". RPGIV and especially ILE-concepts (or all modular programming) require much more time for design (at least in the beginning). That means reuseable procedures must be externalized. Incomming parameters in these procedures must be checked, because you never know from where they are called. Procedures must be optimized, for example if you have a procedure that chains over the unique key to a specific row and returs information from this record. If the same procedure with the same key information gets called several times, because information from the record are needed in the first, seventh, tenth and twelfths procedure you call, chaining repeatedly the same record must be minimized.
Also compiling is not as easy as before. (module --> program or service-program / binding directories / activation groups / binding source). Even though I wrote a compile command that does all steps automatically according to the parameters passed.
Spaghetti without looking right and left is faster to code! (... and "brings more profit!")
Programs I write use almost all features RPGIV provides and are highly modularized, i.e. they consist only of procedure calls and almost all procedures are externalized. But recently my management wanted to interdict to use ILE (and even RPGIV), "you cannot use technologies that nobody else can use!" Ecducating my collegues and give them time to try out what they learned is considered as "unproductive time" that nobody pays.
The controllers see at first "wasted money", i.e. moving from RPGIII OPM to RPGIV ILE is an investment without direct profit. (Sure economics work in this way!). When selling a new program (or application) to a client, he don't want to pay this "wasted time". In this way the marginal incomes go down compared with the marges of spaghetti programs! The client only wants a program (or application) that works and normally he doesn't care if it is written in RPGII, RPGIII, RPGIV with or without ILE Concepts or in COBOL what ever version or C or JAVA or any other programming language. Moving from RPGIII to RPGIV only with CVTRPGSRC (or an other tool) and testing after also will not be paid by anyone. None or our clients would want to pay a single buck for only to get an application that is RPGIV without any apparent approvement. In this way about 60% of our application is still written in RPGIII and even new programs get written in RPGIII.
This was only an example why so much applications are and will be still written in RPGIII. The advantage of IBM, supporting all old versions is a disadvantage in the same time, i.e. managements and developers are not forced to move to new technologies. ... Also why to move, why to learn new things? I'm really the last one who do not want force new technologies, but my management retards it ... and it's really frustrating.
Somewhen the management decicdes to move to JAVA, hires new staff and the old RPG-programmers who are too unflexible to learn new technologies are over! 
... and this is not the future but the present!

Mit freunlichen Grüßen / Best regards

Birgitta Hauser
"Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." (Les Brown) 
"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." (Derek Bok)
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Paris" <Jon.Paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 04:18
Subject: RE: Converting RPG to RPGLE



>> My boss once said we may start using subprocedures soon. My reply was I
already am.
Good for you! It always amazes me that in the System i RPG universe we have 
to "prove" the value of modular programming techniques before we can use
them. Since every other programming language has used them extensively and 
effectively for eons it seems to me it should just be common sense.

Jon Paris
Partner400

www.Partner400.com


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