[WEB400] Re: Modify the IE Browser

[Hans Boldt <boldt@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Bartell, Aaron L. (TC) wrote:
> I feel the same way.  The closest thing that makes RPG viable in the browser
> is CGIDEV2, IMO.  Otherwise I am still tied to creating DDS in one way or
> another.  Microsoft's Visual Studio kicks butt in the market of creating web
> applications.  I hope the Java IDE world catches up soon.  I think the
> technologies are out there, the ease-of-use is lacking.

Regarding CGIDEV2: Again, my point is that productivity is the key 
thing here. There are a heck of a lot of good tools out there 
providing robust and highly productive frameworks for CGI app 
development. J2EE is one, but they also exist for a number of other 
languages. In comparison, to be very blunt, CGIDEV2 simply can't 
hope to match the productivity of these other frameworks. CGIDEV2 
lacks the functionality of the web frameworks, and a static compiled 
language like RPG doesn't have the flexibility that other dynamic OO 
languages have. (Before anyone takes issue with the last statement, 
would you accept more flexibility in RPG if it meant that your apps 
performed 10 times slower?)

That's not to say RPG can't be part of a web application. Using a 
"Model View Controller" architecture, RPG can still be used to 
implement the "Model". But the "View" and "Controller" portions are 
simply better served by other tools (like JSP's and Servlets, 
respectively, to follow the J2EE model).

(Productivity and competition *have* to be considered. If you spend 
$1,000,000 developing your product, but then a competitor comes 
along and develops an equivalent product for $500,000, can you still 
price your product as if it were a $1,000,000 product? Of course 
not. You have to lower your price in order to compete, regardless of 
the sunk costs.)

Cheers! Hans