Dan Burger
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Four Hundred Monitor, March 7
March 7, 2018 Dan Burger
RPG ILE has been enhanced with the addition of DATA-INTO functionality, which will become available March 16. DATO-INTO supports the parsing of multiple states types — JSON being the most important. It imports data from a data document into a data structure. For those familiar with XML-INTO and RPG Open Access, DATA-INTO can be grasped quite easily. Those needing a little help can look inside Monitor.
Also inside Monitor this week, you’ll discover why system admins should be watching the open source news for helpful features, and you’ll be scrutinizing what AI (hello Watson) has in store for developers …
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Advice For the IBM i Application Fence Sitters
March 5, 2018 Dan Burger
Most executive management does not recognize the importance of IT. They don’t understand it and, therefore, don’t see the potential business advantages that come with restructuring a system that was put in place 10, 20, or even 30 years ago. So, how important is it to influence the perception of IT within organizations?
And how do you get more business managers thinking strategically about IT? One of the keys is to demonstrate how IT is the engine for growth and not a money pit with high risk and little return on investment. There are challenges to overcome, for sure. Don’t …
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IBM i Database Capabilities Highlight Midrange Dynamics’ Development Activity
February 28, 2018 Dan Burger
Despite the gravitational pull of a legacy reputation, development on IBM i systems continue to move into new arenas. Shops are modernizing their applications not just to eliminate green-screen displays but to also add features and functionality. Databases are being modernized for the same reasons. And tools that benefit the modernization process are being enhanced.
Change management software (CMS) is in the thick of this. Michael Morgan, managing director of the CMS development company Midrange Dynamics, sees IBM i shops investing in new technologies. He’s doing the same to keep pace with the early adopters and to prepare for …
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Four Hundred Monitor, February 28
February 28, 2018 Dan Burger
Was that a deer in the headlights look you gave your boss after he asked if you could integrate Salesforce with the IBM i? If so, you might ask for a do-over after you read this article. This might be one of those times when you’ll be surprised what an i can do.
How about a simple user interface that makes things easy for the end user? Do you have one of those in mind? Chances are good some of you have a cramp in your development productivity due to a maintenance burden. What can you do about it? Monitor …
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Being Agile With IBM i In A Changing Business Climate
February 26, 2018 Dan Burger
Business conditions are changing, and C-level executives are troubled by a lack of IT responsiveness to changing business conditions.
CIOs are feeling the pressure to step up. At the bi-annual CIO Summit, hosted by Seiden Group’s Alan Seiden, IT executives discuss agile development practices as one tool to help their IBM i development teams deliver better business solutions in situations where IT is breaking new technical ground or user requirements are uncertain.
“IBM i environments of the past were unified with RPG and Db2 and with few choices for user interface. Developers would copy an older program and …
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Tooling Around With IBM i Access Client Solutions Announcements
February 21, 2018 Dan Burger
Access Client Solutions (ACS) received several feature/function enhancements when the Technology Refreshes were announced last week with a little something for end users, system administrators, and database engineers. Although nothing stands out as a major item, this is an incremental release fulfilling user-requested features.
The 5250 emulator is a good example. It’s a key technology that is likely the most used component in ACS, but it’s been around for so long it’s easy to think there’s nothing new in emulation. But users never seem to cease to ask for something new: support for Chinese CCSID 1371 is one of those …
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Four Hundred Monitor, February 21
February 21, 2018 Dan Burger
Artificial intelligence (AI) may be the goose that laid the golden egg, with promises of systems endowed with the intellectual processes characteristic of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalize, or learn from past experience. But there are seldom talked about dangers that could cook your goose. Pay attention to regulatory compliance, law, privacy, and ethics as you integrate AI into your systems.
Class action lawsuits are barking at the heels of Intel stemming from the handling of the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. These stories, plus tips on communications skills that aid project planning, make it into …
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IBM i Code Base Is Elderly, The System Is Not
February 19, 2018 Dan Burger
Pain management. It’s good for your overall health and good for your business. Think of your IT strategy as ongoing pain control. If you are suffering with chronic pain, amputation (migration to another system) is probably not your best choice.
“People don’t realize how painful some of the legacy systems are,” Mike Pavlak says. “They are complex and tightly wound, which is both a blessing and a curse. They often perform like lightning – transactions fly through the system – but developers spend a lot of time on maintenance. There’s a certain amount of truth to the statement that too …
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New IBM i Technology Refreshes Announced; Available Mid-March
February 14, 2018 Dan Burger
IBM yesterday announced that Technology Refresh 8 (TR8) for IBM i 7.2 and TR4 for IBM i 7.3 will provide support for Power9 hardware, enhancements for RPG, security enhancements, and a variety of new capabilities for licensed products. The support for Power9 will be covered elsewhere in this issue of The Four Hundred. Here, we’ll provide an overview of the IBM i operating system, licensed programs, and software.
When TR enhancements include RPG, I like to begin there. Application developers using Rational Development Studio should take note of the new operation code referred to as DATA-INTO, which adds the …
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Four Hundred Monitor, February 14
February 14, 2018 Dan Burger
Old code is today’s technical debt. New code is tomorrow’s technical debt. Maintaining code is the albatross around our necks. What can you do besides kick your tech debt down the road? Find some food for thought on that topic in Monitor this week.
You’ll also learn a few things about where small to midsize businesses are spending the bulk of their IT budgets, which you can then compare to your own budget. And finally, an article that points out that CEOs are investing more in advanced technologies such as AI, but they aren’t planning to invest in retraining their …
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