• Guru: Compare Pieces Of Source Members

  April 19, 2021 Ted Holt

  Next to Barbara Morris, the F15 key seems to be the RPG programmer’s best friend. I do not like duplicated source code, but for years I have been finding it everywhere. Sometimes I find the same source code in multiple source members. Sometimes I find the same source code two or more times in a single source member. If you’ve been programming in an IBM i shop for more than two hours, you know what I’m talking about.

  As I wrote three years ago in this august publication, duplicated source code is bad because it embodies the WET principle, …

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• As I See It: Ambivalence

  April 19, 2021 Victor Rozek

  Former business professor Aaron Levenstein once said: “Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is interesting. But what they hide is vital.” Unlike the bikini wearer, however, statistics are bloodless, void of experience, and often boring. Except of course to statisticians.

  Broadly speaking there are two types of statistics: the ones that make your eyes roll to the back of your head, and the ones that make your eyes pop out of your head. This is the latter, courtesy of economist Robert Reich. Reich calculated that in 2020 Jeff Bezos’ net worth rose by $2,378 every second! You read …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 16

  April 19, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  This is what we refer to as Download Heaven here at the IBM i PTF Guide. There is a lot of stuff going on this week. So brace yourself. First, there are new cumulative PTF package updates, or Cumes, as well as the new Technology Refreshes for IBM i 7.3 and IBM i 7.4. There is also a new release of Access Client Solutions.

  Here is the rundown of PTF Groups by IBM i release level:

  PTF Groups 7.4:

  • Technology Refresh 4
  • Latest Cumulative PTF Package C1091740
  • SAP support required PTF list
  • IBM HTTP Server for i
  • IBM i

  …

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• Query Supervisor Gives Database Engineers New Power

  April 14, 2021 Alex Woodie

  One of the most exciting new features in the upcoming releases of IBM i 7.4 Technology Release (TR4) and 7.3 TR10 is the Query Supervisor. We recently caught up with Scott Forstie, IBM’s Db2 for i business architect, who gave us the low down on the new tech for controlling the database.

  Forstie told IT Jungle said that the Query Supervisor was the biggest new feature added to Db2 for i with IBM i 7.4 TR4 and 7.3 TR10, which IBM announced yesterday (see “IBM Unveils Spring 2021 Batch of TRs” for more news about the TRs).

  So, …

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• IBM Unveils New and Improved IBM i Services

  April 14, 2021 Alex Woodie

  If you like IBM i Services — those SQL-based methods for executing a range of tasks in the operating system — then you’re in luck, because IBM has included a handful of new and improved IBM i Services in the Technology Refreshes (TRs) for IBM i 7.4 and 7.3, which were unveiled yesterday and ship this Friday.

  IBM has developed an affinity for IBM i Services in the last few releases of the operating system. And why not? Users seem to like having a SQL-based alternative to CL commands and APIs. And since the IBM i Services are so easily …

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• 3 Takeaways from the 2021 PowerTech Security Report

  April 14, 2021 Alex Woodie

  PowerTech tomorrow will officially release its report on the state of IBM i security, which will be the 18th straight year it has published aggregated data collected from security scans of actual IBM i machines. We caught up with the report’s author, HelpSystems Director of Security Technologies Robin Tatam, for a quick preview.

  Tatam and Sandi Moore, HelpSystems principal security consultant, will share the full results of the PowerTech security study in two webinars tomorrow, including one at 8 a.m. CT and another at noon CT. You can find more information about these free events and register to attend at …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, April 14

  April 14, 2021 Jenny Thomas

  When news is breaking around the IBM i, you know the first place to get the intel is here at IT Jungle. This week our own Alex Woodie gave us a sneak peek on the latest round of Spring Technology Refreshes from IBM, a day before the announcements rolled out. And while details are still rolling out, Alex learned “With IBM i 7.4 TR4 and 7.3 TR10, IBM is focusing its efforts on extending automation across various components of the operating system, including the database, security, and high availability.” You can find more details about the TRs in today’s issue, …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 15

  April 14, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  It’s Ketchup Day here at the IBM i PTF Guide, now that we are back in the groove and getting them back on the normal Wednesday track.

  There was a little bit going in this week, ahead of the launch of the Technology Refreshes for IBM i 7.3 and IBM i 7.4, which were unveiled this week and which The Four Hundred will be analyzing in detail over the coming weeks. Many parts of the software updates will be available starting April 16, but the Database Group for IBM i 7.3 and IBM i 7.4 and the Db2 Mirror …

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• Big Blue Unveils Spring 2021 IBM i Technology Refreshes

  April 12, 2021 Alex Woodie

  IBM tomorrow will announce the latest round of Technology Refreshes (TRs) for the current versions of the operating systems. With IBM i 7.4 TR4 and 7.3 TR10, IBM is focusing its efforts on extending automation across various components of the operating system, including the database, security, and high availability. But a surprise also awaits IBM i enthusiasts who are visually inclined.

  IBM gave IT Jungle a preview of the announcements that will go public tomorrow, and (very kindly) gave us permission to cover them in today’s issue of The Four Hundred. That means that the announcement materials will not …

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• Thoroughly Modern: Innovative And Realistic Approaches To IBM i Modernization

  April 12, 2021 Chris Koppe

  In your organization, is IT considered a partner in the business or just the service department? Are your IT staff seen as innovators who are connected to your industry and the growth vision of the company? For a lot of clients that I work with on strategy, these are not ways that they would describe their IT departments. But they should be.

  At one point, IT was the enabler of innovation, helping drive automation and optimization of business processes. Now, most IT departments are maintaining more than they’re innovating, and there’s an opportunity to change that.

  Over the years I’ve …

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