IBM Gives RPG Devotees Their Own Café

December 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

Earlier this year, IBM launched something called the EGL Café to provide an interactive Web locale where people can learn more about its new development language. Last month, IBM gave developers of the RPG persuasion their very own electronic hideout with the launch of the RPG Café. What’s more, Big Blue even threw in a “hub” (sort of a mini café) for Rational Team Concert for i (RTCi), the new change management utility launched in November.

Rational Cafes are “connecting communities,” according to IBM’s homepage for Rational Cafes. Currently, there are three full-fledged cafes: One for EGL, one for RPG, and one for C and C++, but there could be more in the works.

The cafes fulfill several functions, including hosting online discussion forums where people can ask questions or provide answers; hosting various blogs of the IBM development teams that create the products; and providing free downloads of code samples, whitepapers, training manuals, videos, and other documents.

Another purpose of the cafes is hosting hubs. Hubs are places for people with similar development interests or questions about a specific product to post to a list and participate in online meetings. The RPG Café currently has three hubs: for the RTCi, RDi, and RDi SOA products. The EGL Café has four hubs: EGL Rich UI, EGL for IBM i, VAGen Migration, and EGL Café Street Japan. The C/C++ Café does not list any hubs, but it does have discussion forums dedicated to the C and C++ capabilities in the WebSphere Developer Studio for IBM i product.

The new RPG Café, which can be accessed at www-949.ibm.com/software/rational/cafe/community/rpg, appears to be getting a lot of looky-loos in its first month of operation, but not a lot of actual participation.

People who want to participate in the RPG Café, or any of IBM’s café’s for that matter, need a valid IBM ID number and password. Without an IBM ID, you cannot register with the cafes or participate with the café societies.