>Would you consider DDS a moving target?
I do so little with DSPF DDS these days that I couldn't really say, though
I would have to imagine that DSPF DDS gets very little attention from IBM
- am I wrong?
The rest of what you are saying I agree with. A lot of moving targets in
the end. The good thing is it seems the targets are always moving
forward, but the pace is so slow, and mistakes so many, that it doesn't
lend itself to meet the business needs AS400 shops have had since
realizing that our users wouldn't stand for green screens.
I know we have had these exact same conversations before on the midrange
lists, but I do feel that each time they occur, despite overlap from the
last thread, we are still making progress forward.
Now that Pete has posted the source for web5250 I hope to "pitch" it to a
client of mine as an alternative to their attempts at CGIDEV2 (which they
have been successful at, but the continuous pain and surprises are keeping
their candle lit at both ends). Solutions like web5250 might not be the
end-all-solution but they can be a "good enough" stepping stone to get
people productive developing business applications vs. constantly trying
to figure out technology. I hope that they take me up on my idea so I can
put some time into web5250 and submit my code changes back to the
community.
Aaron Bartell
http://mowyourlawn.com
Nathan Andelin wrote:
From: Aaron Bartell
HTML will forever be a moving target ...
Would you consider DDS a moving target?
I don't see HTML as much more of a moving target than DDS. That's one reason I've chosen HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build a UI for business applications. It's ubiquitous, backed by standards, and can be home-grown, which offers the most control.
But I kind-of get your drift. You seem to be generalizing, and stirring the pot.
You can design your own UI using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Or you can go with any number of rich UI tool-kits, each of which offers their own component palette; all of which could be moving targets. Or you could go with a tool that generates a rich UI from its own component palette and templates. Or the browser could be used for little more than instantiating applets, Flash, or Silverlight runtimes, where the UI would be defined by those respective technologies.
I'm aware that a number of prominent UI frameworks are being paired with prominent server technologies, and that big players are working to control this space.
Fortunately, I'm past that, and not overly concerned about the multitude of UI technologies that one can chose from.
My focus is application development. I don't envy you having to chose a UI technology.
Of course it's best if ones application design offers enough separation between UI and other logic, that change is less traumatic ;-)
Nathan.
midrange.com
