Using MI Functions and HLL's

[Guest.Visitor]

Hello everyone, Now is as good of time as any to ask a question that I've been wondering about. According to what I've read, and some COMMON seminars that I've attended, in order to call OS/400 MI functions, one has to use ILE C. ILE C is what I've been using. However, I have also noticed that other programmers have been able to use other HLLs, such as RPG IV and ILE Cobol, to call OS/400 MI functions. I was wondering if I missed something or if things have changed. Can a programmer always use RPG and Cobol to call OS/400 MI functions, or are there exceptions? If there are exceptions, what are they? What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of using MI functions over APIs. I understand that MI functions are quicker than APIs. I have also heard that IBM will maintain compatibility for it's APIs, but not neccessarily it's MI functions. Is this true? .... Just thought I'd ask and thanks in advance.

[Guest.Visitor]

RPG is a dirge. C is a symphony. REXX is bebop. Java is elevator Muzak. But assembler is J.S. Bach.

[Guest.Visitor]

On Monday, September 28, 1998, 12:14 PM, Gene Gaunt wrote: RPG is a dirge. C is a symphony. REXX is bebop. Java is elevator Muzak. But assembler is J.S. Bach.

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I have found assembler and RPG (prior to RPG IV) to be similar in structure.

[Guest.Visitor]

On Friday, September 25, 1998, 06:53 PM, Sol Solomon wrote: ILE is the linking of modules from one or more languages into a single program. Also the ability to statically bind these different modules together which results in faster call performance.

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Sounds like a defintion of the linkage editor thats been running on Big Iron housed in a Dinosaur Pen for over 30 years. A cow produces 200 times more gas a day than a person.

[Guest.Visitor]

On Monday, September 28, 1998, 10:29 AM, David Abramowitz wrote: On Monday, September 28, 1998, 08:33 AM, Joe Pluta wrote: I've always felt that music in particular meshes well with the mathematical mindset of many programmers. I've heard this before many times, but I never understood the connection. I've had people tell me: Oh!, your a musician, then you must be a goooood programmer. I smile, but I never saw why. David Abramowitz, B.M., M.M.

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Musicians are used to seeing repetitions, variations on a theme et c. and many of these talents translate quite easily into creating computer programs. ......

 
 Bob Hamilton TEXAS BUSINESS SYSTEMS 736 Pinehurst Richardson, Texas 75080 
 

[Guest.Visitor]

On Monday, September 28, 1998, 11:08 AM, Mario Martinez wrote: I'm not aware of any specific math/music studies, but it's just something that have heard before.

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You might look in late 50s early 60s editions of IBM Systems Journal. The effect has been known and documented... See my earlier note in this thread... I am not quite as hard-nosed as the Dean who, when the University was trying to change the name of his College from College of Art and Science to College of Arts and Sciences, said: "... there is only one art and that is mathematics and only one science and that is physics; all else derives from Art and Science, specious labels to the contrary notwithstanding." ......

 
 Bob Hamilton TEXAS BUSINESS SYSTEMS 736 Pinehurst Richardson, Texas 75080 
 

[Guest.Visitor]

To add to Mario's questions, I don't think MI involves a one-to-one conversion process like assembly language. If this is true, then why is there not an assembly language for the AS/400? Is the machine language on the AS/400 so unique that the assembler language format would not be similar to what is used on IBM mainframes and IBM-compatibles (Amdahl, UNIVAC etc.)? Unlike high-level coding, assembler language programming provides you with an understanding of how the machine actually operates on data. This understanding will enable you to program with the utmost efficiency (this may not be as important as it used to be) and to code routines that would be difficult to write in other programming languages. Many AS/400 programmers that have only programmed in a high-level language may have experienced (1) the frustration of encountering a processing error that they were unable to understand because they were unfamiliar with the machine's method of operation, and (2) the desire to learn more about how the computer actually operates on data. If this was done years ago, I believe the AS/400 would have received a lot more attention, respect and publicity etc.

[Guest.Visitor]

To write a good program you have to get rid of the bad insructions, to write a good piece of music you have to get rid of the bad notes.

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12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.

[Guest.Visitor]

Mario, The manual "IBM VisualAge C++ for OS/400, C Library Reference (SC09-2119-00)" defines these functions in chapter 3. It describes the why/why nots and exceptions. These functions are implemented as procedures exported from service programs supplied as part of the OS. Traditionally they would have been called from C only, but the introduction of support for procedures, pointers and the main C datatypes and parameter passing conventions in RPG means these functions are directly available from RPG. COBOL to I gather. So to use them you just do a "normal" procedure call, where you use the normal C calling conventions. And you just include the QC2LE binding directory during object creation. There have been a number of examples posted in this forum, and others. They are a published interface, so I assume they are reasonably stable. Sometimes they're quicker, sometimes they simply let you do things that you couldnt otherwise do (without resorting to C...). hth, Derek On Monday, September 28, 1998, 02:48 PM, Mario Martinez wrote: Hello everyone, Now is as good of time as any to ask a question that I've been wondering about. According to what I've read, and some COMMON seminars that I've attended, in order to call OS/400 MI functions, one has to use ILE C. ILE C is what I've been using. However, I have also noticed that other programmers have been able to use other HLLs, such as RPG IV and ILE Cobol, to call OS/400 MI functions. I was wondering if I missed something or if things have changed. Can a programmer always use RPG and Cobol to call OS/400 MI functions, or are there exceptions? If there are exceptions, what are they? What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of using MI functions over APIs. I understand that MI functions are quicker than APIs. I have also heard that IBM will maintain compatibility for it's APIs, but not neccessarily it's MI functions. Is this true?

[Guest.Visitor]

Derek, Your tip is starting to make a lot of sense. I'll look at that manual. The COMMON seminar and the documentation that I refered to, were from a couple of years ago. A lot can change in that time. I've noticed the examples of using MI function with RPG and/or Cobol in this forum and others. That's why I asked. Thanks for the tip.