Re: Future of RPG was: Open Access for RPG

[Tommy.Holden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

very true.  while i am a "one-man" shop when it comes to the AS/400,System 
i, i5, IBM i (whatever) my company would never invest in OAR (or any other 
chargeable item) just to "see if it will work for us".  They require me to 
provide actual benefits to the company before it would be consider and 
even then it can be shot down.


Thanks,
Tommy Holden



From:   Michael Ryan <michaelrtr@xxxxxxxxx>
To:     "RPG programming on the IBM i / System i" <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:   07/28/2010 07:49 AM
Subject:        Re: Future of RPG was: Open Access for RPG
Sent by:        rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx



Larry..you're in a good spot. The majority of RPG programmers are not in 
an
as progressive environment.

On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 4:22 AM, Larry Ducie 
<larry_ducie@xxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> Hi Pete,
>
> <snip>
> 1.    Can we do anything to get the over 50 (40?) crowd to embrace the
> more modern development techniques that RPG (and IBM i) has made 
available?
> 2.    Can we do anything to compel the under 30 crowd to give RPG (and
> IBM i) a try a see what a superior business language it is?
>
> #1 - I think that is a losing battle.  So many folks have checked out in
> the i/RPG world.
>
> #2 - Great potential.  Trevor pushing to get the YiPs going in Common
> and the "pick up and run" attitude of guys like Justen and Brian that
> are working closely with IBM (Steve Will) to establish the
> YoungiProfessionals.com site and push for more "young" folks to get
> involved in the "i" world, all of this has borne some fruit.
>
> I'd love to hear if there are any community things that can be done to
> promote the issue raised by #2.  Common gave birth to the YiPs and they
> are moving forward on their own with the support of IBM and Common.
> What else can be done?
> </snip>
>
> 1) I hit 40 a few weeks ago (sigh) and I so far successfully resisted
> puting my ILE Concepts Manual back on the shelf and reaching for the 
pipe
> and slippers. It is not a matter of age. You're only as old as the code 
you
> write. :-)
>
> 2) Employ them. Simple as that. I have employed and trained 10 ILE RPG
> trainees in the past 2+ years. 9 of them under 30 years of age. We give 
them
> 6 weeks in the classroom (locked up with me!!!). They learn free form 
ILE
> RPG and use RDi / RDp - SEU is banned and they think it weird and 
quaint.
> This is followed by a guided real-life project to work on, and then a
> supported introduction into the general development community.
>
> So far we have managed to keep most of them.
>
> Regarding the earlier post about time allowed for training and 
development
> - we give all of our developers 2 weeks per year. This year our focus is
> "Innovation" and we already have proposals from developers to build
> prototypes or tools using regex, XML Dom, JSON, XMLi and Graphml. I 
don't
> know whether we are lucky or whether the developers simply respond to a
> nurturing environment, but we have a happy bunch of very innovative
> developers (and development managers!) and we are the largest RPG shop 
in
> Australia.
>
> I think the fight is still worth the effort. (and yes, our IT Director
> ordered RPG-OA as soon as it was available - "to see if we can do 
something
> with it". That is the kind of attitude that gets you writing good code!)
>
> Cheers
>
> Larry Ducie
>
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Need a new place to live? Find it on Domain.com.au
> http://clk.atdmt.com/NMN/go/157631292/direct/01/
> --
> This is the RPG programming on the IBM i / System i (RPG400-L) mailing 
list
> To post a message email: RPG400-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
> visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/rpg400-l
> or email: RPG400-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
> at http://archive.midrange.com/rpg400-l.