Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

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[gwilburn@hobbyhouse.com]

Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

** This thread discusses the article: Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps **
I have been programming in RPG IV for about 7 years. Almost all of what I have learned has been self-taught through looking at existing code, trial and error, and Bob Cozzi's books. However, I am ashamed to say that I really do not understand some of the basics regarding subprocedures, bound pgms, modules, activation groups, etc. I am sure that I could make use of some or all of these attributes... where can I start to get a basic understanding of these things?

[R.Cozzi]

Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

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This is a big problem for AS/400 platforms. The documentation has gone out the window and ILE (i.e., activation groups and overrides, etc.) have become unnecessarily complicated.

[Guest.Visitor]

Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

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I really enjoy reading the tips on the web site but really don't think interjecting politics into the articles is necessary. We get enough of that kind of stuff from the media.

[R.Cozzi]

Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

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I agree, and actually didn't think about this issue coming out post-election day. In fact, I don't even remember writing that statement, but I obviously did. If it were the middle of June 2005, I doubt anyone would have noticed, but no one's ever said I was one for having great timing.

[dacust]

Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

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Bob, Funny, when I read it, the reasons you just stated were exactly what came to my mind. That first, that you wouldn't have known when it would be published, and second, that on another day it would have just been observed as a humorous comment, albeit possibly revealing your political leanings. I think the majority of people have the insight and tolerance it takes to look at it that way. Me, I think you're a scum-sucking piece of garbage for being a Democrat, but not for any political comments you may choose to make. (OK, before people start screaming: It's a JOKE!!! I only said that to oppose his comment, and I would say that if I was a Democrat or Republican, so you can't discern my political leanings from this at all. --- See how much a joke looses when we have to be careful to explain it to everyone who might take offense instead of trying to examine comments in context and then WANTING it to be in a good light?) So, I think there was no harm in your comment, but when you say you agree that political comments have no place in your technical columns, I think that shows wisdom. Me, I'll read 'em no matter. Even if you become a Republican. -dan

[buck.calabro@commsoft.net]

Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

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Have you looked at the RPG IV Redbook? You can find it's URL in the FAQ at http://faq.midrange.com --buck

[Guest.Visitor]

Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

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I've noticed that the talk in some shops about going to RPGIV or even non-RPG languages such as Java have become quite political in nature. It can divide staff just as donkey vs. elephant discussions. So, maybe your comment is timely. ;}> Tom.

[Guest.Visitor]

Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

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Unless you changed it subsequently, it looks to me like you actually said, "fear-mongering politicians" - But, hey, I guess you know who you are!

[R.Cozzi]

Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

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I did have the services people change the copy so that it wouldn't be as specific. This was my intent all along; but having watched the post-debate "news" coverage while I was writing it...

[R.Daugherty]

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Bob Cozzi wrote: This is a big problem for AS/400 platforms. The documentation has gone out the window and ILE (i.e., activation groups and overrides, etc.) have become unnecessarily complicated. As always, thanks for the articles from you and others here that raise issues for discussion. Having said that, I think that portraying RPG IV as that much of an advance in programming for RPG programmers is indeed nothing more than fear mongering. I have done plenty in RPG III, IV, and ILE and good techniques used all along in RPG III are not that far off from what can be done in ILE. It's still more useful to stay within the architecture of the shop than it is to have programmers going off and writing standalone RPG IV programs as if they were RPG III with eval statements just so they think they have advanced somehow as a programmer. They clearly are thinking more of their resume than the business when they do that. However, for those new systems that will be architected in ILE, it is a travesty that any RPG programmer potentially involved or who wants to be involved does not know the simple computer science behind bound modules and prototyped subprocedures with local variables. IBM gibberish should be replaced with straight talk that explains how ILE is simply the equivalent of compiling object modules in other languages such as C on a PC and linking into an .exe program. In fact, C on the AS/400 is included as an ILE language and modules written in C or COBOL can be linked (bound) together into a program just as in the .NET architecture on PC's which marries ILE architecture with Java. Anyone can understand this when explained in normal computer program development terms. Likewise, the ILE activation group should be compared to the Java JVM sandbox. Programmers can understand this if it comes from someone other than an IBM'er looking for another idiotic software patent. I suggest more straightforward explanations for RPG programmers in forums such as these, preferably from IBM, but since I'm somewhat grounded in reality, hopefully provided instead by the good people here. rd

[David Abramowitz]

Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

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Ralph Daugherty wrote: IBM gibberish should be replaced with straight talk that explains how ILE is simply the equivalent of compiling object modules in other languages such as C on a PC and linking into an .exe program. It's been a long time since ILE was first introduced. The early speakers talked about binding language and activation groups. As time went by ILE talks were prefaced by a sentence that stated that you did not have know about modular programming to take advantage of the features of RPG IV. Dave

[R.Daugherty]

Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

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Ralph Daugherty wrote: IBM gibberish should be replaced with straight talk that explains how ILE is simply the equivalent of compiling object modules in other languages such as C on a PC and linking into an .exe program. It's been a long time since ILE was first introduced. The early speakers talked about binding language and activation groups. As time went by ILE talks were prefaced by a sentence that stated that you did not have know about modular programming to take advantage of the features of RPG IV. Dave True, Dave, and quite frankly the it's worth it for the eval alone is what I reference in my post. Those are just lazy and misleading statements from people who should know better. Any use of modular capabilities, even prototyped subprocedures, require a named activation group so although I've missed a lot these last few years since IBM went off into la la land with Websphere I rarely see our future addressed with more intelligence than IBM's ad for the AS/400 with some dude swinging around on a merry go round standing next to a little black box going "Wheeee! This is easy!" Of course then I get told I'm too negative and we return to regularly scheduled programming. rd

[R.Daugherty]

Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

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I need to emphasize that I am not talking about the excellent explanation by Toronto people of the difference between RPG IV and ILE as described in the Who Knew You Could Do That in RPG IV? redbook, for example. rd

[buck.calabro@commsoft.net]

Enhance Your Legacy RPG III Apps

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> Any use of modular capabilities, even prototyped > subprocedures, require a named activation group Actually, this is a bit misleading. If you compile your main programs as *NEW and all the rest as *CALLER, there is no need to specify a named AG on your CRTxxx command. Such a strategy is often cited for those who don't really know how to architect their ILE application. When I say ILE, I mean ILE activation groups, etc., not RPG IV. An alternative strategy is the simple expedient of using a single named activation group. I mention this to counter the oft-heard complaint that ILE is too complex; in particular I often hear that activation groups are difficult to understand, much less implement. iSeries activation groups are designed to allow for incredible flexibility and as such present many options; many possibilities to the ILE newcomer. But like all other aspects of programming, one does not NEED to use all the flexibility available. The single named AG is simple to use and fulfills the requirements of many RPG shops who want to use subprocedures but don't want to re-architect their code base to use ILE. I agree completely that every professional programmer (that is, getting paid to write programs) should understand simple and common CIS concepts like bound modules. --buck