Re: IBM i in the cloud (was social media)

The problem is not PHP (or .NET) the problem is that the MVC paradigm is
becomming more and more obsolete because the view in modern multi channel
UI's has moved from server centric to client centric. Can PHP make a
flash/flex app ? Can PHP make an iPhone App ? Can PHP build a OOjavascript
Ext JS or Touch app ? Nope - all these are Client Centric app's that comes
with their own client centric SDK.

What is left for the server to do, is to offer REST based webservices that
either delivers data wrapped in XML or JSON or initiate server processes
based on simple URI's from the Client program.

So, this is a quite different scenario that is emerging and every time I
have a meeting with young programmers that work with and breath for the
above client app's and explain them what they can expect from the IBM i
server, suddenly the IBM i isn't "old iron" because it meets their needs and
they actually don't care what technology that delivers the service.

Ask yourself, who can make an iPhone App ? I believe that anyone can make a
"hello world" app, but I also believe that you can't make a "state of the
art" app without living with an iPhone and I have yet to experience a
programmer that starts the meeting by placing his/hers iPhone, iPad,
android, blackberry, Windows mobile and his/hers MAC and windows 7 notebook
on the meeting table and I have yet to meet anyone who claims to have
expertise to build "state of the art" UI's to them all and at the same
time claims to have expertise to know all about building server side
business apps, server side security, server side change management, server
side setup etc. etc.

That's a lot of chewing gum to consume at the same time, especially if you
try to sell anybody that this can be done without or hardly any chewing
education ;-)

Regards
Henrik

On Sat, Nov 20, 2010 at 7:31 PM, Mike Pavlak <mike.p@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

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.

--
ThorbjÃrn Ravn Andersen "...plus... Tubular Bells!"

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