Re: RPGIII compiler vs Visual Basic

[Douglas Handy <dhandy@xxxxxxxxx>]

Alan,

> My point exactly. Converting a monolith app to RPG IV doesn't make it ILE. 

No, but it allows a near zero cost method to migrate the source to the
"new" ILE paradigm and be able to preserve the investment when there
is no ROI on a full rewrite.  And the minor changes to the app are not
even restricted to the old compiler version limitations.  You can keep
the old source (ie converted for free) yet still use new language
features for the things you are changing.

That's even better than having to leave the code in the original
compiler limitations, but you still only have to spend time making
changes which can be justified and the app can otherwise be left alone
and still continue to run in the future.

>It's still the same monolith code .... So you either maintain the old
monolith code, you rewrite or you go to another platform to buy or
rewrite.

However, you do have the option to maintain the old monolith code (and
even use new language features for the things you do change).  This is
HUGHLY different than being forced into a rewrite, or needing to
discard the app because you can't justify a rewrite.

It should be the business which gets to decide if the app has reached
end of life and if justification exists for a rewrite, or whether the
current incarnation is still useful.  If nothing else, Y2K should have
helped drive home lessons on how long some code can remain in use.

Doug