Re: 4GL's

[Jeff Crosby <jlcrosby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have to chime in a bit here.  Many many years ago I went with ProGen 
Plus from BCD for generating subfile programs.  For a couple of years 
after that, I was worried because I could no longer write a subfile 
program from scratch.  I got over that.  I couldn't care less how to do 
one from scratch.  ProGen Plus does everything I need in the way of 
subfiles in literally 1/10 the time.  I care not one whit for all that 
plumbing.

If I ever convince both myself and the powers that be here that we must 
"webify" everything, I have no intention whatsoever of learning the 
nitty gritty details of HTML, JSF, J2EE, etc.  There will have to be 
something that does for "webifying" that ProGen Plus did for subfile 
programs.  I am not a computer geek that works for a business, I am a 
businessman who likes to use computers to solve business problems.

Last week and next week I am attending an online web class (free) put on 
by IBM about EGL  I'm spending 6+ hours a day hands on finding 
out/learning what I can about EGL.  The depth and breadth of what EGL 
does is astonishing and I've only scratched the surface.  I don't even 
know enough yet to be dangerous.  The powerpoint for the first class 
alone is over 1,000 pages.

Both Joe Pluta's ("international authority on System i technology and 
EGL") and Pete Helgren's names are mentioned on the foils.  I don't know 
if EGL will be for us, but it is indeed impressive.