Existence Tests and Left Exception Joins

March 23, 2005 Dear Colleagues

SQL has changed a lot since I first used it in 1984, and I can’t think of a single change that hasn’t been for the better. One of the best improvements, to my way of thinking, is the addition of the JOIN clause in SELECT queries.

I have never liked the EXISTS predicate. I find it hard to read. Sometimes it is difficult to make EXISTS yield the results I want. Fortunately, I have found that the LEFT EXCEPTION JOIN makes a good substitute for EXISTS in many cases. The left exception join returns rows from the primary table that

Where Did I Come From?

March 23, 2005 Hey, Ted

How can I tell which job queue an active batch job was submitted to?

–Tim

Do you mean how a human can see that information or how a program can determine it? I’ll show you both ways.

A human can use the Work with Job (WRKJOB) command to determine which job queue a batch job came from. Take Option 2, Display Job Definition Attributes.

Here’s a second method that you probably won’t need. The job queue name is also in a message in the job log. Display the job log and look for a message that says “Job 123456/SOMEUSER/SOMEJOB submitted”

Wanted: Native RPG and COBOL Support for Browsers

March 23, 2005 Brian Kelly

Back in the 1990s, when client/server was the big thing, the AS/400 was missing from the party. IBM Rochester’s position was that customers could get that type of system from the company’s PC line of business. At about the same time, when the Internet was the next big thing, IBM Rochester’s position was that Internet facility was already provided in the server line by the RS/6000 Unix box. Again, the AS/400 was conspicuously absent from the party. And that party is still going on!

Louis Gerstner, IBM’s former chairman and CEO, coined the term “server-centric” before he coined the term