• 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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• 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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• Four Hundred Monitor, February 7

  February 7, 2018 Dan Burger

  Feedback on something you have written and published can warm your heart or give you heartburn. When his blog sparks some discussion among readers, Steve Will welcomes the dialog. Probably not 100 percent of the time, but let’s say more often than not. On this occasion, the topics are RPG and modernization. The discussion is still open. This would be a good time to makes some points of your own.

  Peek inside Monitor to pick up advice on cross-generational hiring and finding RPG programmers, tips on second and third programming languages to put in your skills toolbox, and warning signs …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, January 31

  January 31, 2018 Dan Burger

  It is important for all decision makers familiarize themselves with current and emerging IT landscapes. Now is the best time to be thinking through future scenarios. A favorite saying of one of my mentors is: “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

  This week, Monitor hooks up readers with articles that cover important IT trends, the avoidance of training failures, the changing roles of CIOs, and the legal dangers that lurk within …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, January 24

  January 24, 2018 Dan Burger

  This week, Monitor connects you with an article that covers the latest version of RDi, IBM’s tool of choice for modern application development. Don’t miss the 60-day trial download from IBM.

  Also within reach are articles about an open source integrated development environment for IBM i created by the energetic and community-minded Liam Allan; today’s artificial intelligence reality and tomorrow’s expectations as an IT workhorse; and IBM’s haul of patents in 2017 that are well represented by AI intellectual property. Also look for the latest IBM i Marketplace Survey in the Resources section. Plus, updates to the events calendar worth …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, January 17

  January 17, 2018 Dan Burger

  Forward-looking RPG programmers are modernizing legacy systems and making it clear IBM i is not the dinosaur that some folks think it is. Along with modernized thinking, comes the need for education and training and learning the skills needed to build next-generation applications. Where does that skill set come from? How long does it take to be skillful? Hear what two insiders have to say on the subject.

  Other stories topics in Monitor this week include: the complexity of multi-cloud environments, the dismantling of IBM Global Technical Services, and the IBM i trends that indicate good things to come, as …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, January 10

  January 10, 2018 Dan Burger

  Simultaneously looking forward and looking back does not require eyes in the back of your head. It does require good vision in both directions though. What we’ve learned in the past year (and the years before that) are lessons that are useful in moving organizations forward. Maybe you missed some technology that came to market under your radar. That’s where a guy like Paul Tuohy comes in handy. Tuohy doesn’t miss much when it comes to IBM i application development. Here’s what he saw in the past year that can be useful in the years ahead. And there’s more than …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, December 13

  December 13, 2017 Dan Burger

  Finding programmers skilled in open source technologies isn’t difficult. And neither is teaching them modern RPG. A good programmer can be comfortable and productive in multiple environments given the right set of circumstances. Real world examples exist and this article is written by someone who is living it.

  Another example of skills evolution is happening with Db2 for i. The value of a modern database is widely overlooked, but the benefits are numerous. IBM’s Mike Cain explains how database knowledge can pay off. Insights into Power9 and AI applications plus the costs of bad data are also in Monitor this …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, December 6

  December 6, 2017 Dan Burger

  Where there is smoke there is probably fire. The odds are not nearly as good that where you find reports there will be data analytics. What tools and capabilities are available to provide deeper insight into the data you have on hand and what difference will it make to the people using the data?

  You can find the answer in Monitor this week. Read a bit farther and you’ll also find informative articles about IBM’s Bluemix and building apps on the internet, what happens when IT loses control of analytics projects, and how to avoid mistakes that lead to preventable …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, November 29

  November 29, 2017 Dan Burger

  The modernization of RPG applications begins with modern RPG development skills. There are several ways to upgrade RPG skills or introduce developers to RPG for the first time. One of them is to connect with Jim Buck. He has 15 years of teaching RPG at the collegiate level, co-authored an RPG textbook, and anchored the team that established the RPG certification test.

  This week in Monitor, we have the transcript of Paul Tuohy’s interview with Buck, along with articles on the rise container-style application development, dealing with digital transformation disruption, and both sides of the looming FCC decision on net …

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