Been following this thread with interest. I wouldn't be opposed to a
new name, but agree that the perception is more what needs to be
changed. A new name might be in order if they did some crazy
significant things with the language/syntax - like 100% free-form and
break away from ALL "legacy" features so the language can be moved
forward faster. Obviously the things on the "legacy features list"
would be debatable, but I would put on that list things like
indicators, fixed form specs, etc.
At the end of the day I don't see a lot of use in trying to convince
somebody over 50 that they should learn something new unless they have
already stated interest in moving forward - I gave up on that crew a
few years ago. INSTEAD I think we need to focus on how to convey the
platform to the next generation. A month or so ago I posted to
WEB400-L about doing a tutorial named "RPG for PHP programmers" that
would essentially train an existing PHP minded person to do
RPG+CGI+DB2+IBMi with the basics and get them producing applications
in a weeks time. Teaching a PHP programmer concepts of ILE modularity
is already within their nature, and with embedded SQL I think they
would take to it like a fish to water. Of course such training would
also declare the common "gotchas" that we have on our system that
might not be immediately apparent to a new personality.
ALL of this is moot if people can't get access to a machine. If
www.iDevCloud.com or equivalent doesn't pan out in right ways then I
would say all other efforts we work on are relatively moot. I am
hopeful that IBM will recognize the incredible opportunity they have
right now to capitalize on "IBM i in the cloud" and provide means of
providing free access to slivers of a cloud IBM i machine for people
to cut their teeth on. I am not holding my breath and instead think
it will have to happen on the backs (and the pocket books) of the
community.
Aaron Bartell
http://mowyourlawn.com
http://mowyourlawn.com/blog/
midrange.com
