[WEB400] Re: XML, RPG, Web Services, Joe = Holy War was -> RE: Re: Modify the IE Browser

[Hans Boldt <boldt@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Brad Stone wrote:
> ... 
> But as was said earier, no one is expected to contribute,
> and by all means they should use what is available.  But if
> you're NOT contributing and complaining about the lack of
> functionality....  that's when I believe it becomes
> parasitic.  (BTW, asking for something is not what I
> consider complaining, its the "RPG doesn't do this so it
> stinks" that is...)

I agree 100%.

> Maybe the Perl/Python programmers have more time to do this
> type of thing because they're not doing such large scale
> business applications and much more hobby programming.  I
> sometimes wonder where people find the time to argue for
> days on this list!  Which is why you haven't heard from me
> for a while.. Not because I was "on vacation" like Dan
> seems to still believe.  <snicker>

Maybe they're not doing large scale business applications, but they 
are building large scale CGI (Common Gateway Interface) 
applications, large scale scientific applications, large scale CGI 
(Computer Generated Image) applications, etc. Just because an app is 
not a business app doesn't mean it isn't a serious app! (BTW, large 
scale business applications *are* indeed being written in Perl 
(yuchh!) and Python, as well as in other languages that aren't RPG. 
<http://pythonology.org/success> 
<http://perl.oreilly.com/news/success_stories.html>)

Perhaps one reason that some people find the time to write class 
libraries in those other languages is that they are very productive 
in those languages. I've mentioned one or two times before that some 
Pythonistas claim to be 5 to 10 times more productive in Python than 
in other languages. Some Python fans describe it as a VHLL - Very 
High Level Language.

(What's a VHLL? To be honest, I'm not really sure myself. But 
consider that a language like Python fully gets away from the 
concept of programming at the bits and byte level, and everything is 
an object. For example, the traditional concept of an assignment 
statement of moving bytes doesn't exist in Python - the assignment 
operator in Python assigns object references, not values, to names.)

(And just to be clear - I'm not suggesting everyone drop RPG and 
start writing all their apps in Perl or Python or Ruby or C++ or 
whatever. RPG definitely has its place. But there seems to be a lot 
of FUD floating around about some things that are not RPG, and I'd 
just like to try to dispel some of that.)

Cheers! Hans