RE: RPG is Dead? Say it aint so!

From: albartell

I also just heard this news from a customer of mine, but it was second
hand
so I was waiting for somebody to confirm. George Farr made statements at
RPGWorld in 2006 about some cool possibilities they are looking to add to
the RPG language in the way of new UI technologies. Sounds like those
ideas lost out.

Yep. The last I talked to George, the EXUI opcode was pretty much a
non-starter. The entire IBM UI paradigm is being pulled into the Rational
camp under the Eclipse framework. My brother went to LotusSphere and I went
to RSDC, and you can see that the UI strategy is being integrated into a
single framework. Whether this will happen in our lifetime remains to be
seen, but in any case, it's unlikely that IBM will spend any money on
creating a one-off System i-specific GUI.

As I said, though, the Rational folks that I talk to (who are ultimately in
charge of the content and pricing of our System i tools) really understand
the strategic nature of RPG as a business language. They just don't see
RPG-CGI or a GUI equivalent (or even PHP for that matter) as the way to
build user interfaces.

Anybody know where we can find a formal statement so we don't sit here and
create rumors?

No, you're unlikely to find any sort of formal statement as to the direction
of RPG development. IBM just doesn't make those kinds of statements, for a
lot of reasons. The best you can do is talk to the folks in charge and try
to get them to give you insight. Remember, even their plans change - as an
example the whole EXUI concept, which seemed like a good idea at the time
but which has since been superseded.

Joe