Re: RPG easier/harder to use than other languages?

On 3 July 2017 at 14:10, Justin Taylor <JUSTIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

O_o I don't understand. Let me restate my point, in case it helps.

I think you got it spot on.

If a dev is sitting comfortably using RPG or PHP, and someone comes along and says the grass is greener with Node or RoR, the grass will have to be a lot greener for him to move. There is effort and risk involved, so the perceived payoff has to offset that. If the grass is the same shade, or just a little greener, the payout wouldn't be worth it.

Right. I'm still assuming the OP question is about web programming,
because that's where things in the world are going. Given that
assumption for the sake of discussion, if RPG is about the same level
of effort as PHP, then it's /not easier enough to matter./ Adding ILE
into the mix seems de rigeur; I can't see how to work with stdin/CGI
without it. But I also don't see how ILE adds 'easier' to web
programming either.

Take a somewhat simple web page that presents the user with a pie
chart of her ice cream purchases divvied up by flavour. There's an
option to download a spreadsheet, png, or pdf. Doing that in RPG is
not going to be as easy as doing it with PHP, Python, or even Java.

Respectfully, I believe that the limited RPG palette is why life-long
web programmers don't use RPG for apps where the back end is DB2/i.

--buck