Re: RPG is Dead? Say it aint so!

With this message I'm just responding to the topic generally, not to anything
specific from earlier posts.

I think it's helpful to weigh RPG within the broader context of the Integrated
Language Environment (ILE), and weight the ILE within the broader context of
the native virtual machine, and weight the native virtual machine within the
broader context of i5/OS, and weigh i5/OS within the broader context of the
ecosystem that it supports.

If IBM were to drop support for RPG it would have an effect similar to removing
the linchpin from the axle of a moving cart (the wheel would fall off, and the
whole cart would come to a screeching halt). I think the ecosystem supported
by i5/OS could argue-ably survive without a PASE or a JVM, but would die
quickly without languages that supported the native virtual machine.

Sometimes I wonder where i5/OS would be now if 10-12 years ago IBM had put its
resources into the development and extension of the native virtual machine,
rather than dividing its resources between the native virtual machine, PASE,
and a JVM, but any conjecture along those lines would be purely speculation,
even with hindsight.

The thing that is clear however is that IBM has lost it's hold on the
application development and runtime environments under i5/OS. IBM is in no
position for example to develop a native user interface or developer IDE that
could capture the mind-share or market-share that PDM/SDA/SEU had held in the
past on this platform.

Developers will choose among Eclipse, Tomcat, Struts, Hybernate, JBOSS, .Net,
PHP, Ruby on Rails, Python, mySQL, WebSmart, CGIDEV2, Dreamweaver, FLEX/Flash,
etc. no matter how much effort and resources IBM and 3rd party vendors put into
promoting Websphere and Rational Developer tools.

User interface is in control of other hands now, particularly those who control
development of Internet Explorer, Firefox, FLEX/Flash, and other browser
technologies like AJAX. IBM may be a huge company, but it won't have much say
in where UI technologies go in the future.

Nathan M. Andelin





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