Re: AW: Open Access to be generally available as part of the RPG compiler

Gary

To be honest, I probably do like to argue but find it unfruitful. Some of this is really a religious argument, and I've tried to stay above that here, with varying degrees of success.

I think you're right on here. RPG Open Access is, to me, essentially servicing the developer's code, with the handler (the "server") using whatever underlying bits are needed. Actually, these bits are maybe the new stuff that is so much "fun" to work with. But you serve or enable your fellow developers who either are not interested or don't have time due to other constraints.

RPG itself has a handler for I/O - it's built into the runtime, if you want to think of it that way. It's a program that's called that knows how to work with DSPFs, PRTFs, PFs, and a few other things we seldom use today.

On restricting to DB or GUI - exactly - no need to do that. Only our imagination can limit us here, once we start thinking of how to use the new functionality.

Buffering and the choice of how deep to delve - yes - exactly. In fact, I'd say that every next-level language has been buffering us from something - assembly is a level of abstraction above machine code - BASIC or RPG or C, another level above assembly, maybe.

All of this has challenges - for Bernd, in one way - for others of us, another way. Some of the challenge is finding ways to take advantage of the new stuff.

So you make sense to me, man! Not that I know everything about it, of course!

Cheers
Vern

On 2/2/2012 4:37 PM, Monnier, Gary wrote:

Hi Vern,

Just some questions for informational purposes. I'm not trying to argue with anyone.

Doesn't SOA lend itself to the "black box"? I mean under SOA you're not supposed to even know what you are invoking only from where and what the interface is. Why should anyone care, from a human interface perspective, if a browser, 5250 session, mobile phone or any other you can mention care where the information displayed comes from? Does the user care if the screen is using an HTTP server or something else or that the entire process is architected to use an i7 rather than a Windows server?

Seems to me RPG Open Access can be another tool that supplies a service. From a System I perspective why would you care how a piece of middleware returns a chunk of data to its client? From an RPG development perspective reading and writing to a "file" can be a whole lot easier than shoving stuff through a classic API call or calling another program or procedure and passing huge parameters.

When SQL is replaced with the next generation data access language the RPG wouldn't have to change just the middleware the "Special" file connects to. Right?

I guess I don't see why RPG Open Access has to be restricted to database access or screen interfaces. ILE RPG can be coded much closer in form to C these days. There just not as much blood spilled during development.

Isn't the buffering of S38/AS400/System i developers from technology details what made it so popular, and successful, in the first place by helping companies keep its development and hardware costs down?

Seems to me the current state of the system is such that you can delve into technical details if you wish but you don't have to.

Am I missing something?

Gary Monnier


-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Vern Hamberg
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2012 1:46 PM
To: RPG programming on the IBM i / System i
Subject: Re: AW: Open Access to be generally available as part of the RPG compiler

You are not Bernd, so I will respond only to one comment you make.

This statement is absolutely NOT TRUE! Enough said.


On 2/2/2012 1:29 PM, Henrik Rützou wrote:

-snip-

What I don’t like about RPG OA is that it binds the programmer to a
couple of proprietary vendors of handlers and thereby whatever these
vendor tools in their “black box” can do.

-snip

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