RE: RPG,COBOL or JAVA

[Joe Teff <jteff19@xxxxxxx>]

I agree with a lot of what Roger said except for

> The Gartner Group, apparently believing deeply in what Jarosh is saying,
> predict that by 2003, 40% of AS/400 applications will be written in Java.
> Religious language convictions aside, it's pretty clear that RPG and COBOL
> are dead for _new_ application development. Yes, there will RPG and
> Cobol maintenance work for many years--but the interesting work and
> fast path to the most AS/400 programmer income will be with Java.

I believe the quote actually said that 40% of new code will be Java. "New
code" is relative. I interpret that to mean new development and not
enhancements to existing systems. That's a big difference. If RPG is
currently 70% of existing systems, that means that RPG will still be 42%
of new code (70% of 60%). That is still as much as or more than Java is
predicted to be by 2003.

> If you're an AS/400 programmer, and expect to be one in five years, it's
> important to start adding Java skills to your programming utility belt.

I believe this will be true about OO, but not necessarily Java. I think learning
OO can make you a better RPG IV programmer. 3 - 5 years may be to early
to see the paradigm really change from procedural to OO in the existing
AS/400 base. The business world changes at a much slower pace. There
are some companies always on the bleeding edge and others on the leading
edge. Many are much more conservative. The Year 2000 crunch has many
diverted from e-commerce, the web and OO. There are many companies
that haven't figured out how to implement the Internet in their business yet.
Oh, they are doing pilots and test projects. They have a view-only Web page.
But, they are not really doing e-commerce. These things will all have to come
first before they start writing their core systems in something like OO and 
Java.

> If you are an RPG coder today and want a fast path into Java (this advice
> may even apply a little to Cobol programmers), stop what you're doing and
> get a copy of Advice Press's "Java for RPG Programmers" by Phil
> Coulthard and George Farr.

This book is worth the investment even if you don't think that you'll be using
Java in the very near future.

Joe Teff

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