-
‘Power First’ As IBM Exits X86 Servers
May 19, 2014 Dan Burger
With IBM in the process of selling its X86 server business, any internal anguish caused by trashing X86 servers is removed, so the Power Systems promoters are firing away. The introduction of Power8 servers launched the volleys and, as the Power8 lineup continues to be revealed, the comparison bombing will likely intensify. Alex Gogh, vice president of server solutions within the Systems & Technology Group, talked about the “Power First” mentality in an interview with IT Jungle.
“We have committed to a Power-first mentality in the IBM software stack,” Gogh says. “This means when we release software we will
-
As The World Turns: Investments In IBM i
May 12, 2014 Dan Burger
It’s been four years since the introduction of IBM i 7.1. In between 7.1 and 7.2, which was put out on May 2, there were eight Technology Releases pegged to 7.1. Those releases were the indicators that IBM was still investing in the IBM i platform. It was a new strategy for Big Blue. How did it affect IBM and the IBM i community? That’s a good question.
At the COMMON Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, Florida last week, Steve Will, chief architect for IBM i, and Alison Butterill, IBM i product offering manager, described the 7.1 to 7.2
-
IBM i TR8, Database Driven
April 21, 2014 Dan Burger
The TR8 updates for IBM i 7.1, announced last week and available June 6, were once again stacked with DB2 for i appropriations. That’s good news for the growing number of SQL advocates in the IBM midrange community. If you are not yet onboard with SQL, for data access and/or data definition, you are falling behind in modern skills, tooling, and programming framework. This kind of stuff is leading the way in IBM’s Technology Refresh program.
There are more than a couple of good reasons for this. One is that SQL fits into modern, multi-platform data access. Another is the
-
The Geezer’s Guide to Free-Form RPG, Part 2: Data Structures and More
April 16, 2014 Jon Paris
In the first part of this series I discussed why I thought that RPGers should care about the new free-form support. Since you may have seen other articles on the basics of this support, I thought in this tip I’d focus on a few examples of how existing D-specs are converted to the new format so you can see how it all works.
Before we begin though, let’s have a quick review of the basics of this new style of data definition.
All definitions begin with a declaration operation code. For D-spec type definitions these take the form dcl-X where
-
DB2 For i Table Function Performance Considerations
March 19, 2014 Michael Sansoterra
In my prior tip, I covered some guidelines on when to use scalar user defined functions (UDF) and the potential performance hit they can impose on a query.
In this tip, I’m going to follow up with a few additional guidelines about user defined table functions (UDTFs) in DB2 for i and show how they may impact query performance.
Once again, I’m using data from the Microsoft AdventureWorks sample database that has been exported to DB2 for i. Shown below is a sample UDTF named “Transactions” that combines the data from the transaction history and transaction history archive tables:
-
Attachmate Brings Full-Function Emulation to Mobile Devices
March 18, 2014 Alex Woodie
If the TN5250 products you tried with your iOS or Android device left you feeling sad and frustrated, you might want to check out the latest release of Attachmate‘s Reflection suite. The company is now providing mobile touchscreen devices with the same type of emulation experience that customers are used to getting from a full Windows-based TN5250 product. The new TouchUX interface should add convenience when entering data, while the new SmartUX API will allow developers to extend functionality with buttons.
The TN5250 and TN3270 products you see on the app stores don’t bring much value to the users,
-
Attachmate Brings Full-Function Emulation to Mobile Devices
March 18, 2014 Alex Woodie
If the TN5250 products you tried with your iOS or Android device left you feeling sad and frustrated, you might want to check out the latest release of Attachmate‘s Reflection suite. The company is now providing mobile touchscreen devices with the same type of emulation experience that customers are used to getting from a full Windows-based TN5250 product. The new TouchUX interface should add convenience when entering data, while the new SmartUX API will allow developers to extend functionality with buttons.
The TN5250 and TN3270 products you see on the app stores don’t bring much value to the users,
-
DB2 For i Scalar Function Performance Considerations
March 5, 2014 Michael Sansoterra
I love using user-defined functions (UDFs) in DB2 for i. They encapsulate business logic, provide for code modularity and improve code reusability. But they can also flush performance down the drain. So in this tip, I’d like to use a sample UDF to analyze how it can affect the performance of an SQL statement.
For this illustration, I’ve exported the Microsoft SQL Server Adventure Works sample data to DB2 for i. There are three main tables to consider in this query; SalesOrderHeader (31465 rows), SalesOrderDetail (121317 rows) and ProductCostHistory (22680 rows; I dumped in some extra randomized data into this
-
The ADO Client Side Of Default Parameters And Named Arguments In DB2 For i
February 26, 2014 Michael Sansoterra
In Stored Procedure Parameter Defaults And Named Arguments In DB2 For i, I covered two new related features in DB2 for i 7.1 that were implemented in Technology Refresh 5 (DB2 for i Group PTF Level 18 or higher). In this tip, I’m going to cover a surprising limitation of this feature when coding in an ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) environment, whether using an IBM DB2 OLE DB provider or the iSeries Access ODBC provider.
Recall that stored procedure parameters now support a DEFAULT keyword that can be a literal, subquery, or expression (with limitations):
CREATE PROCEDURE DEV.CREATE_ORDER (
-
Midrange Dynamics’ Change Management Enhancements a Matter of Perspective
February 18, 2014 Dan Burger
A sequel to Escape from Alcatraz, that great old Clint Eastwood movie, is taking shape in IBM midrange shops. It’s called Escape from Green Screens. The plot is still being written and it won’t be done any time soon, but there are more shops using RDi with Remote System Explorer for editing source code. And the new free-form RPG coding is allowing RPG developers to escape green-screen development. A change management system (CMS) that works well in a modern development environment is a big advantage over CMSes that don’t–or no CMS at all.
Midrange Dynamics, for example, is