Re: RPG Low-Code Development Platform - Thoughts?

Am I understanding you right that you proposing to write new applications
using file I/O rather than SQL?

My original post was fairly abstract, in order to introduce the topic of
low-code development platforms. To answer your question, no I'm not
proposing the use of RLA rather than SQL.

A low-code platform would expose application templates, or what may more
commonly be called application models that are pretty high level. Under the
covers, a model might use RLA or SQL depending on whether the desired
behavior is to generate a filtered query result and display it in a
browser, or to perform a single-row insert based on input from a user.
Developers wouldn't necessarily write the code for that, other than to make
some declarations such as "name" an SQL view from which to pull a result
set. The SQL or RLA details would be handled by a pre-coded runtime
component at runtime based on the application model that was selected by
the developer.

As I indicated previously, low-code applications are already pre-built.
Developers are just adapting them to their database, and perhaps extending
their functionality a little.

Even if you are externalizing the I/O I sure wouldn't call that a low code
way to develop code.

I wouldn't say that externalizing I/O is low-code development either. Quite
to the contrary, if you had 1,000 database files in your system, then
externalizing I/O would mean writing or generating at least 1,000 I/O
programs or service programs (one per file). To me, that would be like
traditional application development. Under low-code development, you
wouldn't do that.

You are writing RPG code to do what the database engine can do for you.
That sure isn't low code.

You appear to be making some assumptions, perhaps based on my previous
input to discussions about RLA vs. SQL, or discussions about externalizing
I/O.

Low code development platforms tend to make those types of topics moot,
because under a low-code paradigm, you're not writing external I/O modules.
You may not be writing SQL, except perhaps in order to create and include
SQL views in applications. Creating SQL views might be arguably the domain
of the database administrator, rather than the application developer. Of
course, the same person might do both.