I agree. The advantages of RPG and web development for IBM i shops seems
to be familiarity and ease/simplicity of development (relatively speaking)
for RPG programmers. CGI on the IBM i seems to have performance advantages
over CGI on other platforms as well, though I don't know how well it
scales vs. other languages/frameworks that have been designed for the web.
Disadvantages of RPG are that it is proprietary (which is not always a bad
thing as Apple has shown vis-a-vis portability which tends to negate the
advantages of any given platform from the lowest common denominator),
there are way fewer RPG programmers in the web sphere (pardon the pun),
far less information and OSS available on the web in comparison to
languages like PHP, Java, C#, etc., and most crucially, a lack of
frameworks to assist in cutting down on development time (i.e.,
re-inventing the wheel). Third-party products can be of assistance, but I
wonder how flexible and feature-rich they are in comparison to frameworks
like Zend, Spring, etc. that actively being developed for a far wider
audience.
That said, it seems like the future of the browser interface is 1) HTML +
CSS + Javascript (and associated frameworks), 2) plug-in technologies like
Flex, Silverlight, JavaFX, etc. or 3) possibly HTML5. The current trend is
to move away from server-side languages like PHP, Java, C#, etc. for the
UI, unless they are used to generate HTML and Javascript (e.g., GWT). So
the combination of RPG for the controller and model code with no. 1 above
for the view may suffice for many shops to generate modernized RPG apps
without the hassles and complexity of learning a new language and
framework. Valence, for example, seems like a pretty elegant and quick way
for RPGers to get to the web, though there is a requirement to learn ExtJS
and/or a WYSIWYG tool.
On another note, there is an OO RPG solution if someone wants to learn
ASNA's Visual RPG .NET. You'd have to drink the Microsoft cool-aid,
however, and might be better served just learning C# or VB .NET (both of
which have larger developer bases).
Blake
Blake Butterworth | Senior Programmer Analyst | Kansas Turnpike Authority
| 9401 E Kellogg | Wichita, KS 67207 | (316) 652-2740
On Apr 19, 2010, at 5:12 PM, web400-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Jon, I am curious. Outside of PHP being more prominent in web than
RPG (a
fact), what is the thing you would most want from RPG that PHP gives
you,
but that RPG sorely lacks?
Well I've already mentioned the amount of help available but ...
putting devil's advocate hat on ...
1) Large numbers of trained experienced programmers
2) Thousands of examples and tutorials on how to do things (web
services, PDF generation, Excel integration, cloud, email, voip, ...
name any modern technology and insert here. (IT takes too long to add
stuff to RPG which is why Open Access is goodness and "Open BIFs"
should probably follow it.
3) Object orientation if I want it (Will never happen with RPG)
4) Wide choice of powerful application frameworks
5) Wide choice of Open Source applications (Sugar CRM, Drupal,
MediaWiki to name just three)
6) Bookshelves of "How to's"
7) Being actively taught in colleges and schools (sadly most of the
schools who taught it have dropped it in part because we as a
community didn't hire the grads!)
I could go on but the last thing I want to do is to denigrate RPG - it
is and will remain my favorite langauge.
Those of us who (like yourself) have built web frameworks in RPG tend
to be clueless when it comes to the difficulties Joe Average
encounters when he tries to get stuff running using RPG - even if it
is a free solution. They _have_ to have stuff installed on the IBM i -
and for many that's just not an option. Not an issue with PHP - they
can develop stuff and _then_ say "look what I've done".
Anyway, enough already - I'm in danger of foruming away the open week
that the Icelandic volcano has given me!
Jon Paris
www.Partner400.com
www.SystemiDeveloper.com
midrange.com
