RE: [WEB400] Re: Resort back to RPG?

[Erik Mitsch <baron@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey all,

I've been reading this thread and I finally have to throw my 2 cents in.

> Have you even known of any database business application of substantial
> scope that was platform independent?  Is there such a thing? The moment
> that an application generates a spool file, or uses a data queue, or calls
> a system API, or incorporates a CL command, it's no longer independent.

A properly developed platform-independent application wouldn't do any of
those things, or would cover every possible variation, depending on the OS
on which the software is running.  Either way, the program could be run on
any machine with any OS, which is why they're called platform-independent.

> Is "platform-independence" now the politically correct term meaning that
> it must run under Wintel?  But connect with data via JDBC?

Absolutely not.  Especially for Java programmers - why would you want to
program Java with Windows in mind, when Windows doesn't even want to run
Java, and has never run Java effectively?

As for those programs that claim platform-independence, then say that they
prefer their software to be run on X platform for full-functionality are
outright lies.

To achieve true platform-independence, it takes a long time and a lot of
effort to overcome using those APIs and things that most programmers get to
take for granted.  There are people out there working very hard to make
these things work for everyone, and to see this idea, and therefore, their
work, get cast off as "just another thing that's falling to the Wintel
empire" is, in my opinion, rather shortsighted.

As with everything else in programming at one time or another,
"platform-independent" has become a buzzword, and is being used at some very
inappropriate times.  I simply request that the idea should not receive undo
criticism on account of the times that the ideal has been misrepresented.

- Erik
http://www.baron-inc.net