For those who doubt the power of RPG....

[iSeriesCodePoet]

Check out this thread thread317-479697. iSeriesCodePoet
IBM iSeries (AS/400) Programmer

 

[sleipnir214]

And this post has exactly what to do with your (or my) development as a professional? Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!

 

[onpnt]

sleipnir214
How exactly do you not see this post as dealing with iSeriesCodePoet ’s (or your) development?

I'm failing to see how the link provided to the thread in dealing with the tip that the use of a alternative form of development brought a close to a task and provided a solution to a problem. Is that not in its self My own development as a professional material?

_________________________________________________________
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http://www.onpntwebdesigns.com/aspTut4.asp

 

[palbano]

There is zero chance of convincing me in the power of RPG. Never the less, i see nothing wrong with a post of this type in this forum.

 

[CajunCenturion]

There is no question that certain languages excel at certain types of tasks. There are some things that in LISP are trivial and probably impossible in RPG, and the reverse is also quite true.

Now lets see, you can take 400 people from London to Moscow in a Cessna. Won't be easy, and will take a long time and lots of trips, or you can take 400 from London to Moscow in a 747. Easy in one trip. You can take 2 people from Heathrow to Gatwick in a 747, or you can take them in a Cessna.

This is not an earth shattering revelation. It all boils down to using the right tool in your arsenal for the job at hand. Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[Morsing]

I think it's great. I'm really tired of all these 'modern' programmers with all their 'modern' tools that can't see or talk anything else.

Excuse my ignorance but what is RPG??

Cheers Henrik Morsing
Certified AIX 4.3 Systems Administration
& p690 Technical Support

 

[onpnt]

RPG is a report generating language used on the AS/400 box

really a powerful tool to have when used properly. With the combination of a bit of CL (control langauge) you can generate a report to satisfy or impress any employer. _________________________________________________________
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[CajunCenturion]

RPG (Report Program Generator) has been around a whole lot longer than he AS/400. The acronym RPG says a lot - Report Program Generator.

RPG was intially introduced by IBM in the early 60's. RPG II came into play in the late 1960's with the System/3, and then in 1979, RPG III become the standard bearer for the System 38. It wasn't until 1988 that the AS/400 came on the scene. It was until 1994 that RPG IV which removed the Fixed Logic Cycle that RPG was even considered a procedure oriently languaged. Notice the underlying IBM theme here.

RPG has a very rich history and has always excelled in filling the reporting niche. That's precisely what it was designed for. Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[iSeriesCodePoet]

The reason for the posting is to show that RPG programs can be created faster than most other languages. In java, first you would have to set up a JDBC connection, in c++ or VB, the same thing. C++ run natively, you have to build additional intfaces. I showing that many people make fun on RPG for being old... well old is sometimes better. iSeriesCodePoet
IBM iSeries (AS/400) Programmer

 

[CajunCenturion]

I don't think its a matter of old vs new, but rather its general purpose languages vs specific purpose languages, and having the wisdom to know when your problems falls inside the scope of the specific purpose language and its limitations. Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[palbano]

>> I showing that many people make fun on RPG for being
>> old...

i thought it was funny a long time ago (before it was old) LOL

>> and having the wisdom to know when your problems falls
>> inside the scope of the specific purpose language and
>> its limitations.

for each individual it is not always that simple. for me i don't have problems creating an ADO or JDBC connection and formulating a SQL statement and using the result set to produce a report, I can practically do that in my sleep.

I have no desire to frustrate myself working with languages that are so limited as RPG, I can’t even stomach VB LOL while RPG may be superbly suited to that task I have no interest in using it regardless of the potential benefits.

That's why i am pleased that there are plenty of RPG developers out there, someone has to do it yes? Just as long as it's not me!

-pete

 

[CajunCenturion]

For each individual it is not always that simple. -- Quite true, that's why my statement required "having the wisdom to". I can guarantee without the wisdom, its not simple to make that judgement.

And just for the fun it of it - Why can't you stomach VB? Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[palbano]

>> And just for the fun it of it - Why can't you stomach VB?

that's why the laughing icon. i was mostly joking about that. it's not that bad, i just prefer C++ and Java. Since i will never be an expert in either of them i prefer to spend my time advancing my knowledge of them and expanding my realm of technologies rather than branching out into less powerful languages like VB etc. It seems likely that C# and the .NET API will be on my horizon soon anyway so i will have all that to deal with. It's a never ending war of technology so i like to choose my battles cautiously.

Also my "not that simple" post aside, i believe your observations are completely accurate.

-pete

 

[iSeriesCodePoet]

RPG is more powerful than you realize. I know it doesn't do "Windows style" GUI. But it does CGI, sockets, etc. iSeriesCodePoet
IBM iSeries (AS/400) Programmer

 

[CajunCenturion]

IMHO, with respect to ALL programming languages, the inherent "power" of the language is grossly over-rated and misunderstood.

Some languages have been designed for some very specific purposes, and excel at those task, and are useless for other things.

With respect to the general purpose languages, what matters is not the language can do for you, its what the programmer can do with the language.

Remember, some very talented programmers put together some code that helped put a man on the moon in 1969. Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[palbano]

>> Remember, some very talented programmers put together
>> some code that helped put a man on the moon in 1969.

did they use IP for that? That must have been a slow upload in those days LOL

 

[CajunCenturion]

No, but it certainly refined the concept of a Wide-Area Network. Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[iSeriesCodePoet]

Or GAN... Galatic Area Network iSeriesCodePoet
IBM iSeries (AS/400) Programmer

 

[Tarwn]

Umm, actually i was already planning to use the acronym GAN. See I have this fish and I figure if I put a little touchpad in the tank with an antenna than I could teach him to use it (like a rat and food) and also monitor the temperature of his water in his favorite spots (sending it directly to my website on my computer wirelessly). So since he's a goldfish.....


I don't really have a fish, just a looooong boring day

-Tarwn ________________________________________________
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[junglejimv]

I have programmed using RPG for the past 20 years. When I 1st started using this language (RPG II) it was in fact a "Report Program Generator". Using that antique it was amazing that an on-line interactive banking system could and was developed. The advent of RPG III brought with it a relational database. The AS/400 on which RPG is the predominent language is totally object oriented. The files, libraries, spool files - everything. The AS/400 brought with it the 1st true 64 bit operating system (where is yours pc bigits?) RPG400 then came along bringing with it many BIF's (built in functions - resusable objects!). RPG IV brought with it the ILE (Integrated Language Environment)which allows the interopable possibilities of calling Java, Cobol, C++ pgm's from RPG, or visa versa. The latest evolution of RPG IV released with the latest version of the DB2/400 operating system allows for use of "free form" coding which puts this version of RPG 180 degrees different than where I started out with the language.

As far as power goes here is an actual program that reads in a spool file related to purchase orders that I wanted to send to folks via e-mail.

FFILEIN IF E DISK
C *Entry Plist
C Parm lmsg 5000
C read FILEIN LR
C *inlr doweq *off
C eval lmsg = %trim(lmsg) + %trim(bomline + ':/N'
C read FILEIN LR
C enddo

That's it folks! Once lmsg is constructed it is used as a parameter to the pgm that actually sends out the e-mail document.