• Guru: Web Concepts For The RPG Developer, Part 3

  July 22, 2024 Chris Ringer

  Greetings everyone. Articles part one and two were both an introduction on how to build components in an HTTP request. In part three, we will begin to connect the dots and discuss how to asymmetrically sign a simple string. If you ever need to send a secure HTTP request to a government agency or financial institution, you likely will authenticate with a signed token. So, here we go!

  Base64 Take Two

  In part one, the SQL scalar function BASE64_ENCODE embedded in RPG converted a string to base64. This technique will cover most use cases, but what if you need …

  Read more

• As I See It: Communication Fail

  July 22, 2024 Victor Rozek

  If there is one frequently overlooked source of workplace discontent it involves the quality of communication. Or the lack of it. On a corporate level, pronouncements seem predictably boilerplate lacking authenticity if not veracity, more suited to limiting liability than guiding behavior. Everyone, for example, touts their commitment to customer service. But customers must often navigate draconian phone trees and endure excessive wait times before being connected to a helpful human.

  The disconnect between what is said and what is experienced is based on two sets of competing values: Professed Values, and Operational Values. Professed Values are the ones companies …

  Read more

• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 26, Number 28

  July 22, 2024 Doug Bidwell

  Welcome to this week, which is a very, very quiet week, even for the IBM i PTF Guide. Like, hardly anything at all is happening. There are a few little things, which we will now point out.

  Here is the rundown of PTF Groups by IBM i release level since we last published:

  PTF Groups 7.5:

  • Fix list for IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty
  • MustGather: How To Obtain and Install QMGTOOLS

  PTF Groups 7.4:

  • Fix list for IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty
  • MustGather: How To Obtain and Install QMGTOOLS

  PTF Groups 7.3:

  • Fix list for IBM WebSphere Application Server

  …

  Read more

• How To Contribute To IBM’s GenAI Code Assistant For RPG

  July 15, 2024 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Back in October 2023, IBM launched its “Project Hopper” Watsonx Code Assistant for Z, which as the name suggests is a programming assistant that will eventually be built into the open source VS Code integrated development environment that was created by Microsoft and that is being explicitly trained to help programmers take applications coded in COBOL and convert them to Java. We speculated back then about how LLMs and GenAI might be used to do similar – and different – things for the IBM i platform, and back in May at the POWERUp 2024 conference Steve Will, the chief …

  Read more

• Maxava Strengthens Leadership Team With Key Appointments

  July 15, 2024 John Dominic

  As Maxava positions itself for continued growth and innovation around the world, we are thrilled to announce several key appointments that will enhance our leadership team. These strategic moves are designed to strengthen our operational capabilities, meet complex customer demands, and expand our international market presence in HA/DR, multi-platform monitoring and security.

  Sheena Bernard has been promoted to vice president of operations. In her new role, Sheena will oversee the technical, development, and services teams, ensuring that Maxava continues to deliver innovative solutions and support to our clients. Sheena has extensive commercial, business improvement, and operational management expertise, having previously …

  Read more

• What’s Cooking In Code For IBM i?

  July 15, 2024 Alex Woodie

  With IBM beginning to pull back on green screen development tools for IBM i, the importance of Code for IBM i to the IBM i development community has never been greater. The good news is that there’s a lot of development activity at the moment around the Visual Studio Code plug-in, with new features to replace some of the outgoing greenscreen functionality.

  IBM announced that it was killing off some of the green screen development tools in its Application Development Toolset (ADTS) as part of its Technology Refresh (TR) for IBM i 7.4 and 7.5 in early May. Among the …

  Read more

• Fans Revving Like Crazy On Your Power10? Check The Firmware

  July 15, 2024 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  It doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes a patch to firmware for Power Systems is defective, and when it does happen, we like to point it out.

  Defective PTFs happen fairly regularly with IBM i, as defective patches happen for other operating systems. Sometimes the effects of defective PTF patches are dramatic, sometimes they are just weird. Sometimes they are in between.

  Both IBM i 7.4 and IBM i 7.5 have a defective patch in the firmware for Power10 systems, and to be super precise it affects machine types 9105-22A (Power S1022), 9105-22B (Power S1022s), 9105-41B (Power S1014), 9105-42A (Power …

  Read more

• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 26, Number 27

  July 15, 2024 Doug Bidwell

  Get your PTF patching fingers all cracked and stretched because you will be doing some typing this week. There are a three security issues you need to cope with and a slew of patches that run the gamut of subsystems on the platform. As usual, let’s start with the security vulnerabilities.

  First, we have Security Bulletin: IBM Java SDK and IBM Java Runtime for IBM i are vulnerable to a denial of service and bypassing security restrictions due to multiple vulnerabilities, which you can find out more about here. The patches for this issue, by IBM i release level, …

  Read more

• IBM Begins the Purge of Old Greenscreen Utilities

  July 10, 2024 Alex Woodie

  IBM is prepping the IBM i community to prepare to adapt to some substantial changes that are coming with the next release of IBM i, including the end of support for a large swath of the Application Development ToolSet (ADTS) that ships with Rational Development Studio (RDS). Source Entry Utility (SEU) and Programming Development Manager (PDM) are not among the ADTS tools getting the boot, but that’s not stopping midrange professionals from speculating that their time in IBM i is limited, too.

  As part of its May 7 Technology Refresh for IBM i 7.4 and 7.5, IBM issued a “software …

  Read more

• Where Do RPG Programmers Come From? And Other IBM i Questions

  July 10, 2024 Alex Woodie

  The IBM i community has faced a skills crunch off and on for the past decade or longer, as Baby Boomers retire and IBM i shops struggle to find replacements. One big reason for the hiring gap is that the old ways of finding new RPG programmers and other IBM i professionals no longer work like they used to, according to IBM i educator Jim Buck.

  “What they did for years was they just stole from the guys down the road,” said Buck, who is the president and CEO of IBM i training company imPower Technologies. ‘“I’ll go to …

  Read more

Previous Articles Next Articles