Thanks for the thorough response Stuart. Some day I would like to sit down
with your developers over a number of beers and soak in their experiences as
I do believe I have a lot to learn from them.
We have been doing that for 10 years now but it's not as productive as Flex
to develop for the end user.
What particular features of Flex has set it apart? Is it because of only
having to program to a single runtime on the client vs. multiple browsers?
I have always thought that it is always about finding those patterns and
building a framework around those patterns which cover 80% of the
programming, but then make it possible (and well documented) on how to go
outside of the framework for the business needs that go outside of the
abilities of the framework.
Procedural programming is over.
Agreed, but modular programming is still the most simple long term solution
out there - for business logic writing that is, I know OO is great for
framework foundations. The world has gotten lost in all the OO
functionalities when all people really want is flexibility. RPG callable
*PGM and *SRVPGM and *MODULE objects give that modularity and things like
library lists provide for the run time flexibility. In many ways we are so
comfortable in our daily use of this modularity and flexibility that we
forget how much time it saves.
Now don't think I am knocking RPG_Gui or any of your efforts. My intention
is to respond honestly to your questions.
Promoting something to the world, like RPGUI, is asking for critiques and
criticisms. The thing I am working on is finding the truth in the
critiques/criticisms and addressing them in whatever I am promoting.
Needless to say it has been a long road in trying to do that with my
personality of constantly wanting to "fight back". Thanks again for your
comments.
Think about the players that have an interest in this being true and yet
haven't done anything: IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Seagul, Infor, Databorough,
LANSA, Blue Phoenix. Surely we can't all be wrong?
I want to be careful that I don't make a blanket statement here. Many of
the big players you mentioned (Oracle, Microsoft, and even IBM) aren't being
led by what the customers want per se. They are being led by what they
believe the customers want and then fill in the blank with xyz technology.
IBM and EGL are a perfect example of this. IBM asked their customers what
they wanted and they said they wanted an easier way to build modern
interfaces. IBM then delivered EGL. EGL is authored by smart people who DO
NOT, I emphasize that again, DO NOT have a lot, if any, exposure to the
RPG+DB2+IBMi programming stack.
BTW, I missed your call because I was on the phone with a large health
company. They have gone down the path of "modern lanuages" and have
determined that it just isn't as much as it is cracked up to be BECAUSE
whatever they gained in one area (pretty apps) they completely lost in other
areas (extreme IT infrastructure over complexity). I will get back to you
shortly if you still want to chat with me :-)
So if you want to open source our code go ahead. We have used it as R&D
proto-typing for a broader more optimum result, but there is some good stuff
in it.
Actually, I would love to. I will call you.
I certainly hadn't expected to get drawn into this level of debate when I
asked about flex!
After debating on midrange.com is the perfect time to check the old blood
pressure ;-)
Aaron Bartell
http://mowyourlawn.com
http://mowyourlawn.com/blog/
midrange.com
