Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here.

Guido Van Rossum, creator of Python, once said, “Python is an experiment in how much freedom programmers need. Too much freedom and nobody can read another’s code; too little and expressiveness is endangered.”

In this third part of our introduction to Python on our faithful IBM i, you’ll learn how to use the expressiveness of Python while still keeping your code readable. This will be achieved by creating classes to represent our data in a clean and manageable fashion. You have likely heard of classes and object from

I created a logical file that combines multiple tables into a single result set (similar to a SQL UNION.) However, when Microsoft Excel’s Query Wizard presents a list of available tables and views to query, this logical file does not show up in the list. What is the problem?

Suzy

Hi, Suzy:

The problem is that DB2 for i is classifying your logical file as a non-relational file. It turns out that the Microsoft Excel Query Wizard uses ODBC (or OLE DB for Excel 2007 and later) to access DB2 for i. When tools like the Query Wizard and Crystal

A reader recently wrote me inquiring about some of the finer points in running the i operating system’s cleanup tasks for clearing out messages, job logs, and other system output. While IBM offers a decent automated cleanup function, it’s not quite as clear how to manually run the cleanup option. This week, I’ll review what cleanup tasks do and show you how to run this function either automatically or manually.

What Are the Cleanup Tasks?

Cleanup is an i operating system task for manually or automatically cleaning up user messages; system and workstation messages; system journals, job logs and log