In my experience, RDP and RPG IV are not necessarily like, say, Java and
Eclipse or C# and Visual Studio since RDP is not adding tons of
boilerplate code. (Maybe there are templates for pre-built code snippets,
but I haven't used that feature.) Java and C# have associated frameworks
for things like GUI or web development with WYSIWYG designers that add a
lot of boilerplate code to ease development and alleviate the need for
knowledge of complicated architecture. This can be good and bad because
code generators can output faulty code or give an insufficient level of
control. Plus, there can be custom build systems and/or project
structures/formats with various IDEs. But it seems to me that's not the
case with RDP and RPG, unless a person is using a third-party tool or
framework like CGIDEV2 or Valence. Even so, one will have to manually add
H specs, API calls, etc. since RDP isn't going to just plug those in.
RPD does speed the development process, however, because it provides a lot
of features beyond SEU, SDA and RLU. It has graphical layout tools for
display and report files, indentation and block nesting features useful
for reviewing fixed format code, a verifier that will take you line by
line through errors in code and a graphical debugger to name a few things.
All these are time savers. Plus, you can display more lines of code on
your screen as compared to SEU. To me, there's really no comparison,
though I'll still use SEU occasionally for a tweak. There is a small
learning curve and an extra expense for the IDE, but it's worth it in my
opinion. Regardless, the 5250 tools are no longer going to be updated by
IBM to support new RPG language features, so unless programmers want to
pass on those or have SEU barking at them all the time, it seems to me
that they are going to have to switch eventually.
In terms of /free, I always use it now. I've programmed in RPG IV for
years and still find /free easier to read. Maybe it's because I started
out in C, C++ and Pascal and still program in C-styled languages. It will
definitely be more familiar and easier to read for new developers coming
to the platform, and there is some advantage to that, I think. I can
maintain and will work on fixed format code, no problem. But I personally
prefer /free.
Blake
date: Mon, 27 Jun 2011 10:30:07 -0400
from: John Yeung <gallium.arsenide@xxxxxxxxx>
subject: Re: Impossible to even think about rewriting in RPG
On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 7:45 AM, <Tommy.Holden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Until like 3 months ago I used SEU/PDM for doing ILE programming
complete
with service programs, modules & APIs. ?Blaming the IDE is a red
herring.
It's a desire to make the effort that is to blame.
Thanks,
Tommy Holden
I'm not *blaming* the IDE. I'm saying that for me, in my workplace,
in my opinion, it's not the best use of my time. Of course you can do
ILE programming with SEU and PDM. And if you do, great. I am all for
it. But it *does* have a cost, and is not only related to
willingness.
Look at Java for a much more stark illustration of the cost of an
inferior development environment. How many Java programmers who use
Notepad or EDTF or some such are anywhere near as productive as Java
programmers using Eclipse? There is a very real cost to having to
type boatloads and boatloads of boilerplate yourself. While you are
doing that, you're not really contributing value, you're not really
working on the business problem. You are typing (or copying and
pasting) lots and lots and lots of stuff that either the compiler or
the IDE should be able to do for you. It's a bloody waste of time.
For me, personally, I have not seen ILE code that is *so much better*
than OPM code that there is a compelling argument to switch. At least
at my workplace, the benefit is very close to zero. And the cost is
much greater than zero. If there were some demonstration that there
would be significant benefit (modularity, maintainability,
performance, functionality), or some way to mitigate the cost (less
clunky development process), then of course it would be worth
revisiting.
And this is why I have asked very plainly: What do folks use other
than SEU and PDM for their ILE development? Three months ago, you
switched yourself, so clearly there must be something better.
Note: I know ILE provides greater functionality. The benefits that
are obvious to me are embedded SQL and recursion. So of course when
those things make the programming much easier, it is worth the
overhead of the extra coding required for ILE. But honestly, the
stuff we do at my workplace very rarely calls for these features.
John
midrange.com
