Re: What About Price vs. Performance? -- MIDRANGE-L

Leif

I often agree with your views but here I have to differ

<snip>

> Surely, you did have to do "something". That something (no matter what it is)
> *is* programming. It might be in a different language, different form,
> whatever,
> but it is programming nevertheless.

</snip>

When your brain absorbs the knowledge necessary for you to acquire new skills in
life,  is someone from above reprogramming your brain ?

I do not believe so.

Your brain stores the new data in its existing data store (physical file) with
all the bits connected in context (more or less!).  This context allows us to 
use
the same data to as rules that guide us through our tasks.  This cannot be 
called
programming.

You can use the same basis for computer systems. You store your business logic -
data, procedures, menus, triggers, commitment control boundaries,application
definitions, etc., in one database.  These define the user data, which is stored
in exactly the same way in the same database - i.e. the database defines itself.
I use a universal data type to store all data, both definition and user data.
When I create a new entity type, I do not create any new physical files - the
existing 9 physicals are all I need.  I do not use any logicals, and have only
one display file and one printer file.  All authority, to operate applications,
to access (& add, etc.,) data is also stored in the same database, sitting on 
top
of OS/400 security.

Applications are just another entity type - they are not sets of files, 
programs,
procedures, etc. - there are normally no new AS/400 objects created when a new
application is created.  To changed the existing data structure, I add a record
to the database that defines this.  Even if a user wants, say, 1 billion levels
of hierarchy, even this can be stored in the existing database, without any need
to change the key field length as you go down the levels. The database structure
changes in real-time, without any performance impact on users signed on.  It can
handle really complex multi-dimensional structures, all stored in context.

The database access code is separated from the user interface code which
generates 5250 attributes, PCL 5 for printing or HTML for the internet as
required (it could easily generate XML if I saw any purpose).  If a user with 3
digit quantity fields wants them changed to 5 digits, this is changed in the
database and any columns expand at once to fit, even on 5250. The total RPG 
code,
for the development and operational environments together, is under 5 MB.  This
code is used by all users for all applications so there is no program paging.

May be you call this programming - I don't.  But if you achieve a similarly
flexible result using programming, what does it matter - we are in business to
provide end user solutions, and if we can do this on budget, etc., we are doing
what we are paid for.

Best wishes

Rob
________________________________________________________

Erros plc

44 (0) 1844 239 339

http://www.erros.co.uk - The AS/400 Neural Database for the Internet

_________________________________________________________


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