Extension files allow you to extend the life of your database without having to completely re-engineer it.
By Joe Pluta
As business programmers, we spend most of our time working with the database, one way or another. Unless we're lucky enough to be in on the ground floor of a new installation of a modern package, chances are that database will require modifications to support changing business requirements. Even if it's an entirely custom application suite built specifically for your business model, the database probably has become a bit long in the tooth and needs to be updated to take advantage of newer features. Rafael Victoria-Pereira has written several excellent articles on database modernization, and I invite you to spend some time with them. Today, though, I'm going to talk about extending your existing IBM i database without modernizing it.