Four Hundred Monitor, October 4

October 4, 2023 Jenny Thomas

Investing in the future of the IBM i is not something we hear much about. So, when we learned about a new fellowship program from Kisco Systems, we were all ears. The goal of this new program is to encourage IBM i customers to launch careers by helping them develop IBM i skills in house. Applicants for the fellowship must be sponsored by an active IBM i customer and will receive: free IBM i and RPG training; a one-year COMMON membership including registration for two conferences; and recognition in the IBM i community through podcasts and the COMMON Education Foundation. Two fellowship grants are planned for 2024 and more may be added in the future. Applications for the first award are open, and the first winner will be announced in January 2024. Learn more about the fellowship program in the top link in the Redbooks, White Papers, Blogs, Podcasts, and Other Resources section below.

Top Stories From Around The Jungle

(NetworkWorld) A new range of AI integrations is coming to IBM’s mainframes, operating systems and private clouds.

(SiliconANGLE) Hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, and AI are becoming a reality thanks to a collaboration between IBM and VMWare.

(The Motley Fool) IBM stock may be poised for a spike, according one analyst.

(ComputerWeekly.com) Historic storage hardware decline has IBM rethinking some strategies.

(CIO) What is information mismanagement costing your business?

Spotted On Social Media

(Click image to get to post.)

Redbooks, White Papers, Blogs, Podcasts, and Other Resources

(Kisco Systems) The Richard C. Loeber Fellowship Program is a partnership between Kisco Systems and IBM i shops who want to develop high potential employees and help launch careers in the IBM i community. Full program details and an application form are available here.

(Manta Technologies) Save 20 percent during Manta’s Back-to-School Combo-Pack Sale! In addition to the complete IBM i Training Library, the following combo packages are on sale: Operations Combination Pack, System Administration Combination Pack, RPG Development Combination Pack, COBOL Development Combination Pack, and Program Development Combination Pack. Sale ends October 31.

(ServiceExpress) This article details the differences, advantages, disadvantages and other considerations when choosing a traditional, converged or hyperconverged architecture for your business.

(Seiden Group) This blog explains how the IBM i HTTP server makes it easy to measure the speed of API and web pages.

(System i Developer) This video from our friends at SiD offers a look at “essential skills for today’s RPG developers,” and how they map to the ongoing ½-day Summit Deep Dive Workshops for IBM i developers. See Calendar below for details

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

October 5 – Online Workshop – RPG Procedures & SRVPGMs by Example, a half day online workshop with Susan Gantner, covers how and why to use ILE procedures, modules, service programs, binding directories, binder language, and activation groups.

October 10 – Online Workshop – Python for RPGers, a half day online workshop with Mike Pavlak, explores the implementation, syntax and application use cases of Python on IBM i.

October 9 – Virginia Beach, Virginia – Join COMMON at Virginia Beach for an exclusive one-day event! The IT Leadership Summit will allow you to be part of the conversation to discuss strategies to address challenges that all organizations face today.

October 9-11 – Virginia Beach, Virginia – Join COMMON for NAViGATE, which will feature more than 100 sessions presented by industry expert speakers, an expo of leading solution providers in the IBM i space, and limitless networking opportunities to connect with peers and experts to maximize your learning opportunities.

October 12 – Online Workshop – API Enable Your Application with Web Services, a half day online workshop with Jon Paris and Paul Tuohy, takes you step by step through the basics of creating and consuming web services using either RPG or SQL along with JSON or XML and HTTPAPI or IWS. Learn which approach is right for you.

October 16 – Webinar – The inaugural event for a new IBM i user group – iMUG, IBM i Midrange User Group – will be held online and will feature three-time IBM Champion for Power and IBM i developer Simon Hutchinson who will present: “Simon’s Top 10 SQL Favorites.” The webinar will begin at 6 p.m. Eastern standard time, and you can get more details at this link.

October 17 – Online Workshop – A to Z of Embedded SQL in RPG, a half day online workshop with Paul Tuohy, takes you from the basics of a simple SELECT statement, to using a cursor, to using a paging cursor, to using SQL to maintain your data, to wrapping SQL functions as RPG subprocedures, to accessing the web with SQL, to the proper use of dynamic SQL… and much, much more.

October 18 – In-Person and Online – OCEAN’s October meeting will feature Dr. Dave Carlson, president of DMC Companies, who will give a presentation called “Blockchain in 12 Easy Steps.” Learn more and register here.

October 19 – Online Workshop – Is Code for IBM i Right for You?, a half day online workshop with Susan Gantner and Jon Paris, introduces you to Code for IBM i, an open source extension to Microsoft’s Visual Code Studio. This new IDE supports developers working on IBM i applications that use languages like RPG, COBOL and CL as well as PHP, Node.js, Python and other open source languages.

October 24 – Online Workshop – PHP for RPGers, a half day online workshop with Mike Pavlak, focuses on the fundamentals of PHP. It moves on to exhibit a simple use case for an application and then decompose the application with a LOT of nifty tools and features.

October 26 – Online Workshop – Coding a Modern RPG Application, a half day online workshop with Paul Tuohy, takes you through the structure and code behind a modern RPG application, exploring the details of each of its many layers.

October 31 – Online Workshop – SQL Procedures, Functions and Triggers, a half day online workshop with Paul Tuohy, shows you how to use SQL to allow other languages (and platforms) to take advantage of existing IBM i code or to access SQL capabilities from RPG or COBOL applications.

November 14 – Webinar – The Central Texas IBM i User Group, CTXiUG, will have IBM Champion Simon Hutchinson present his favorite additions to the CL program language from the last few releases. Events is online and free, starts at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here to register.