Re: RDI with V7R1?

Hi Dave - there's one statement here I want to ask about - others have responded with more ideas.

A greenscreener doesn't
spend as much time as I do, learning new things and losing lots of time
with bugs (which I am sad to see are still often present with the latest
version of RDi).

I've been using RDi for more than 7 years at my current position and several years before that at my previous position. I admit to having a kind of hate-hate relationship with the early versions, all the way back to the original WDSC.

But for the last many years, I have spent almost no time dealing with "bugs". I also have had almost no downtime as a result - I'm having more trouble with relatively slow network speeds while working from home.

Yes, there is a learning curve at first, but I think you will be over that after not too much time. And there are features of RDi that are at least difficult in PDM or SEU, if not impossible. One of my recent favorites is the "Copy members to..." feature of RSE - it lets me copy source between systems freely, and this just isn't possible with PDM - maybe with using the QFileSvr.400 file system, but that's messy, if even possible.

The new PDM subsystem of RDi also lets you operate in ways familiar to you. I don't use it, because we use the Turnover software change management system, and that handles all that PDM would do. Nonetheless, the PDM subsystem is very cool.

So carry on, I am convinced that the obstacles you might feel at the start will vanish in short order.

Cheers
Vern

On 10/10/2020 5:51 AM, Dave wrote:

I'm currently working in a shop that doesn't have RDi. The development team
is divided into several groups, each working with different technologies.
The AS400 team is small and of a rather mature age group. However, I was
very surprised to find that a large proportion of the developers are still
writing new programs in RPGIII. There is no use of ILE, and all
RPGIV programs are written in fixed format. Since being there, I've
installed the trial version of RDi and the 120 days has expired. I've
therefore been forced to rediscover SEU &co.
I would really like to convince the manager to buy the product. But I need
arguments. I think it would be easy to convince him if I were a salesman.
Sometimes, particularly when I observe coworkers on their greenscreens, I
wonder if RDi really has made me more productive. A greenscreener doesn't
spend as much time as I do, learning new things and losing lots of time
with bugs (which I am sad to see are still often present with the latest
version of RDi). Rather I wonder if, RDi is just good for morale. What I
lose in development downtime I win in organisation, speed in coding,
understanding, finding, etc. But in the end, everyone gets the job done.
Can we measure or prove that RDi would be worth the investment? If so how?

-snip-