Re: Why NOT the 400? -- MIDRANGE-L

Because Microsloth (actually, I'd prefer to call it a name involving a
Yiddish term for the male anatomy, and suggesting that said anatomy is
undersized) has the world conditioned to think of text-based user
interfaces in general (and terminal-based ones in particular) as
obsolete and cumbersome, just as they have the world convinced that
Windoze is a better GUI than Macintosh (when in fact, it's highly
questionable whether Windoze is even a better GUI than the Amiga, let
alone Macintosh, X, GEM, or GEOS).

Manufacturing and Distribution environments do NOT need graphics in all areas of their operations. My warehouse environments are predominantly (though not completely) solid green screen on RF devices and terminals...and for damn good reasons.

Because IBM has bought into that whole line of bovine scat, with certain
system parameters not settable from a terminal, and certain data types
inaccessible from DDS. Because IBM has a self-destructive habit of
trying to force users to waste money and disk space (not to mention
bandwidth) on Client Access.

DDS may not be perfect but it's good enough for back office support.

Because IBM has steadfastly continued to support and promote RPG, while
throwing out BASIC, FORTRAN and PL/I. Of all programming languages, RPG
is probably the only one generally regarded (with good reason) as
stodgier and more stone-age than COBOL. Because EBCDIC and SNA
communication have an IBM mainframe connection, giving them a (totally
undeserved) reputation for being difficult to deal with, and giving
computers that use them a (once again, totally undeserved) reputation
for being big, bulky, noisy beasts requiring a dedicated system operator.

Who cares what language is used. It's not about the language. It's about the solution. RPG400 may produce text-based screens but they handle the data flawlessly. Don't always need windoze or grafix.

Because you can't simply pick up any off-the-shelf printer, whether
Postscript laser, PCL laser, inkjet, Microdry, or impact, and plug it
into the back of an AS/400. Because you can't simply go down to the
nearest Fry's and buy a new hard drive, tape drive, CD-ROM drive, or ZIP
drive for your AS/400.

Now there's a bunch of good points. No argument here.

Because very few universities bring up programmers on IBM mainframe or midrange systems. Those that still train programming students on anything bigger than large Windoze or UNIX boxes or Macintoshes generally use systems from other vendors. Any other vendors. Thus, SNA, EBCDIC, and other AS/400 essentials are completely foreign to most young programmers.

...and that sucks because that is correctable too.

James H. H. Lampert
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