Re: the RPG problem - adrift in the PC-web wind

Hi,

Yes, I agree that two languages can work together almost as one. OCL and CL acted as the bridge between the OS and the high-level RPG. EGL with Web-sphere, I gather, conceptually wants to be the bridge to modern output.

However, they were designed independently (thus EGL can put out Cobol code, but not RPG) and I gather EGL will even compete with RPG for full functionality, as in the RPG to EGL conversion concepts. In that sense, EGL is claiming to be a lot like Lamsa, Magic and WinDev, a 4GL implementation that is happy to work with the iSeries (QS36F as well, if you create a data dictionary ?) and will be friendly to your existing data and apps.

I included EGL in the jambalaya partly because there is a type of skepticism, with the Visual-RPG experience of IBM and the continual rebranding of Websphere and Eclipse products. Now EGL is the way to go, but I am not sure that everyone sees its long-term future as bright. These other tools have a 10-20 year lineage of actively working on iSeries. If we knew that EGL would be actively supported in 10 years, that might be a help.

However, technically EGL might fit more in with the new generation of 4GLs that basically bypass RPG, the point of my earlier post. It is not really trying to enhance RPG, but to supply an alternative full-platform that will coexist with your RPG.

Feel free to correct any misunderstandings on my end.

Steven Spencer
Queens, NY

On 3/10/2012 5:12 PM, Steven Spencer wrote:
> Personally, starting fresh, I see no purpose in working with RPG and
> the jambalaya of EGL, or CGI and PHP, or Java and this and that. Or
> Open Access and the three vendors.

Not sure what you mean by "jambalaya" when you refer to EGL. It's a
pretty straightforward open source 4GL with a variety of target
platforms, including Java, COBOL and JavaScript. It's got integrated
support for SQL that's a lot better than any other language I've seen.

And while it doesn't target only the i, it works best with the i,
because it can access the database either through SQL or through direct
calls to ILE programs, including RPG. Why is that important? For the
same reason it's always been important to call native applications:
performance! EGL provides effortless SQL access but when you really
need performance you can always call good old RPG.

And that's just the business logic side! Unlike most languages, EGL
provides a single syntax that works on the server and also works on the
client, and tops it off with a powerful WYSIWYG editor that allows you
to bind controls in your browser directly to functions in your client
which in turn can invoke services on the host. And you can debug it all
the way through using a single workspace!

So, yes, if I had the choice I'd build any application from the ground
up using EGL and RPG. The only change is when I need a fat client on a
handheld device, at which point I'd turn to Android and Java.

Joe
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