Four Hundred Monitor, April 26
April 26, 2017 Dan Burger
All programming languages gain value from programmers exchanging information the tips and techniques and code samples that get passed around. Open source magnifies this information exchange. Contributing code to make sure that all IBM i languages can benefit is a worthy endeavor, says the business architect of IBM i open source Jesse Gorzinski.
“RPG First” would make a good slogan for lapel pins and bumper stickers. Brian May, a solutions architect at Profound Logic Software, says it’s also good advice to update RPG skills and become a better programmer before taking on another programming language. Learning new languages will be easier when RPG skills are modern.
Top Stories From Outside The Jungle
(Open Your i) Not everyone sees the benefits of contributing code to the open realm. Often, people doubt whether they can contribute productively to an open-source project. They may fear a lack of time or skills, or perhaps are simply nervous. There’s no need for this uncertainty.
(MCPressOnline) Before conquering new languages, RPG programmers should master RPG. Updating your ILE and RPG skills will not only make you a better IBM i developer, it also makes learning new languages easier. If you are not well versed in all that RPG offers, this article guides readers toward the topics that every RPG developer needs to learn.
(TeamQuest) With so many companies moving their operations to the cloud, it’s important that CIOs and IT managers read the fine print before committing to any vendor. Cloud contracts have not evolved to keep up with the rapid rate of added users.
(InformationWeek) Some IT departments are struggling to prove their relevance as the pace of change continues to accelerate. On one hand, they’re responsible for their own predicament and on the other hand they’re not.
Redbooks, White Papers, and Other Resources
(Adsero Optima) The lack of application agility is the biggest factor limiting the growth and acceptance of of IBM i, according to this white paper. Although the green-screen user interface and the RPG-written applications are often blamed, it’s the slow adoption of SQL capabilities in the DB2 for IBM i database and data centric design paradigms that hinders IBM i.
(IBM) The IBM i announcements for the 7.2 and 7.3 TRs don’t mention the three upcoming RPG enhancements that will be available through PTFs at the same time as the TRs. The PTFs will be available individually, and they will also be part of the upcoming 7.2 and 7.3 DB2 group PTFs.
(COMMON) During this 40-minute recording, Scott Forstie explains the new and enhanced DB2 for i features being delivered on March 31, 2017, to IBM i 7.2 and IBM i 7.3.
(Vision Solutions) “Power Talk” is a podcast series dedicated to insights and discussion surrounding IBM Power Systems. Archived sessions include remote journaling expert Larry Youngren, high availability strategist Ron Peterson, and “Father of the IBM i” Frank Soltis.
Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings
April 26 — Westbury, New York – The Long Island Systems Users Group monthly meeting will include two presentations by IBM i security expert Robin Tatam. At 5 p.m., Tatam will discuss the integrated file system(IFS) security. At 7 p.m., he will discuss overall system security. In between the PHP sessions is time for networking, cocktails, and dinner. LISUG meetings are held at the Westbury Manor located at 1100 Jericho Turnpike.
April 27 — Parsippany, New Jersey – Guest speaker Robin Tatam will discuss security design at the application level at the regular monthly meeting of the North Eastern Systems Technology Users (NESTU) meeting. Topics will include object ownership, adopted authority, public and private authorities, command line permission, and client-server considerations. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be held at the Spice Grill located at 111 Route 46 East.
May 2 & 3 — Markham, Ontario, Canada – The Toronto User Group’s annual technical education conference, TEC 2017, features IBM i-centric subjects that include: RPG application development, Web and mobile development, application modernization, accessing and optimizing DB2 data, performance management, and system management. The conference will take place at the SAVOY Conference Centre (Monte Carlo Inn) located at 7255 Warden Avenue in Markham. Early registration discounts are available.
May 7-10 — Orlando, Florida – The 2017 COMMON Annual Meeting and Exposition is the largest IBM i educational event of the year. It includes more than 300 sessions related to IBM i, as well as AIX and Linux. Open source, high availability, security, DB2, and application development are a few of the popular skill-building topics. The agenda includes all-day pre-conference workshops, open labs, and a wide variety of lecture-type sessions presented by subject matter experts. An early registration discount ($1,595 for members; $1,895 for non-members) is available through December 30.
May 16 — Auburn Hills, Michigan – IBM i Web-based business intelligence will be presented at the meeting of the Southeast Michigan IBM i User Group. Guest speaker Jim Bainbridge from IBM Lab Services will discuss the DB2 Web Query tool. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be held at the offices of Cooper Standard located at 2110 Executive Hills Court. Remote access to the presentation will also be available.
May 22-26 — Orlando, Florida – IBM Systems Technical University is a training and skills event featuring Power Systems, z Systems, and storage. Sessions are tailored for executives, business managers, data center managers, tech support managers, project managers, systems and application programmers, IT architects, and systems and database admins. Thirty-nine IBM i-specific session are on the agenda.
