Ok, unfair for me to state what I do as I do nearly everything I can since most of my work centers around helping customers complete POC projects. But more telling is what my customers are doing. They are ALL across the board. I have one customer that insists on wrapping all RPG calls into Stored Procedures and calling those from PHP. Another customer calls COBOL programs directly from PHP to leverage business logic. One more customer is using PHP as front end for BIRT which is Java Based. I have seen customers read and write from data queues using PHP. Go ask Lane Nelson at Harris data why they initially chose Net.Data over Java and then PHP. Lastly, being able to stave off server sprawl was cited as attractive to yet another customer. Why add two or three new Intel servers (or VM's) when I have a little excess CPW on the IBM i. Yes, SCONS is back and with these new Power7 boxes rolling of the line I'm starting to see consolidation with a vengeance!
(Delving into heavy opinion, here...)
So, I guess the strength is that with PHP running natively on IBM i, companies are leveraging their investments in RPG and COBOL business logic and staff while providing an alternative to the green screen. Using PHP makes the deal a lot more attractive as there are lots of books, schools and about 4 million developers out there who know the language. Not quite so many RPG folks coming up through the ranks these days. I love what Jim Buck over at Gateway and other schools are doing to help get more RPG programmers out there. These are the really smart students as they will be in a significant minority in another 10-15 years and have an exclusive skill set. (Given the economy and my 401-k I will probably be right out there beside them!) But having alternatives helps keep the IBM i alive in many shops. I have heard from several of my customers that the IBM i would not be around today if they had not embraced PHP. It could be argued that RPG-CGI or Java could have saved them as well. But their existing RPG staff was able to absorb PHP much easier than Java and there are myriad more examples of PHP code out there than RPG-CGI. Several have also hired PHP developers who are now working on IBM i. Not all of these PHP developers are under 30, but many are. Another point, not all PHP developers want to work on IBM i. They don't understand it and they don't like being kept away from the OS internals. Managers need to isolate this trait in the interview process. Usually easy to do by asking the candidate what their forum alias is and then Googling their posts. The ones interested in solving business problems more than worrying about the latest Linux distro seem to make the best fit and are bringing great success.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Mike
mike.p@xxxxxxxx Cell: (408)679-1011 Office: (630)928-1476
Zend Server for IBM i avilable at
http://www.zend.com/en/products/server/zend-server-5-new-ibmi
-----Original Message-----
From: web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Thorbjoern Ravn Andersen
Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2010 5:53 AM
To: Web Enabling the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Re: [WEB400] IBM i in the cloud (was social media)
Den 19/11/10 20.59, Mike Pavlak skrev:
Most open source languages are also available cross platform. Java, PHP, Ruby, Perl, etc. My recommendation is to get a free distro of VM Ware Server, install a Linux or Windows image on your PC and get busy. Or maybe you have an old PC. If not, head to your local electronics recycling bin and make a withdrawal! The languages are the same and 90% of what you need to learn is the language. Most of us know DB2 and general databases. Learning MySQL would not hurt any of us! When you are ready for the IBM i particulars, go to iDevCloud and finish it all off.
I learned PHP on the street, like a lot of PHP developers. Started on Linux, Windows and THEN IBM i. I didn't whine because I did not have IBM i LPAR or a dedicated system. You don't need much to learn this stuff. Need any coaching? Just give me a shout!
Hi Mike.
How many of the IBM i-specific things and optimizations do you use in
the solutions you create? Or do you use a skill-set that will run on
any PHP-platform?
The reason for this, is for IBM i to have an _advantage_ instead of just
keeping up, is for people to know and use its strengths.
midrange.com
