RE: [WDSCI-L] JVM Update for WebSphere Development StudioClient V5.1.2 available

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Paul Nicolay
> 
> As far as CGI versus other technologies goes... it offers you the
option
> to reuse your existing skills which can get you started in no time.
While
> Java has benefits, the learning curve can push you weeks, months, ...
back
> in time.

To be fair, you can also start programming using JSP and servlets in
just about the same time it takes to learn how to use any CGI language,
including RPG.  A solid client/server architecture is small, fast, easy
to learn and easy to use.

With CGI, you have to learn HTML and then learn about browser requests
and responses (something roughly akin to the RPG cycle).  With a
client/server architecture that uses RPG as the back end and servlets
and JSP as the front end, you have to learn HTML and then learn about
browser requests and responses.  The only difference is that you then
have to learn how to take data from the RPG programs, convert it to
beans, and send it to the JSP page.

The learning curve is maybe a couple of hours.  I teach this regularly
at iSeries DevCon, at user groups, and on-site, and RPG programmers
generally pick it up in an hour and a half.  Yeah, the Java syntax is a
little obscure, but you only need to use about a dozen classes to do
what you need to do.  If you think of them as APIs you call, it's really
not all that hard; certainly not much harder than learning the CGIDEV
APIs.

Advantages include being able to run your programs in the WebSphere Test
Environment as well as being able to take that application and run it on
any machine, not just your iSeries, and still talk to iSeries programs
and data.  Thus you can offload the web serving from your production
machine, and never even have to put it on the Internet.

It's a business decision, like any other, but don't be scared of the
Java required.  It's minimal and most people pick it up in hours and get
proficient in days, not months or years.

Joe