• More Db2 Web Query Alternatives, And An Update

  March 11, 2024 Alex Woodie

  It has been five months since IBM abruptly killed off Db2 Web Query, the IBM i-based suite of business intelligence tools that Big Blue OEMed from Information Builders. Some customers have already settled on a replacement, but many others are still combing the market looking for a good fit.

  The product that is arguably the most well-positioned to replace Db2 Web Query is WebFOCUS, the Information Builders product on which Db2 Web Query is based. IBM had an OEM agreement with the New York-based company for more 15 years before it abruptly ended in October.

  IT Jungle has asked Information …

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• PUB400: Your Free IBM i Playground

  March 4, 2024 Alex Woodie

  Search the Web for “free Linux server” and hundreds of results pop up. Do the same for “free IBM i server” and your results are much more limited. But what the universe of free IBM i servers lacks in quantity it makes up in quality thanks in large part to PUB400, a free IBM i instance that has been serving the midrange community for nearly a quarter century.

  Many IT Jungle readers undoubtedly are familiar with PUB400.com, which was started by Holger Scherer on a little AS/400 Model 150 back in 1999. Over the years, the site and the …

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• Guru: Assertions, Take 2

  February 12, 2024 Ted Holt

  It’s been almost 20 years since Cletus the Codeslinger introduced assertions to the IBM midrange world, and in that time, I have included many assertions in my RPG programs. During that 20 years, RPG has changed a bit and Cletus has quit writing articles (but not source code), so I’ve taken it upon myself to update the code he gave us.

  First, however, it might be a good idea to briefly review the topic of assertions for readers who don’t know what they are. An assertion is a program statement or command that cancels a program if a fatal condition …

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• RPG Training Program Spun Up by Trucking Industry Outsourcer

  February 7, 2024 Alex Woodie

  If you’re in the trucking business and need RPG programmers, you might want to check out the outsourcing firm DDC FPO, which has spun up a new program in the Philippines to train junior RPG programmers to work at American trucking firms.

  DDC FPO is one of the country’s largest business process outsourcing (BPO) firms serving the trucking industry. The company, which is headquartered in Evergreen, Colorado, works with more than half of the country’s less-than-truckload (LTL) operators. About one-third of the bills of lading generated daily are generated by DDC FPO workers, the company claims.

  The IBM i platform …

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• Guru: Getting Started With The Code 4 i Extension Within VS Code

  January 22, 2024 Gregory Simmons

  The Code for IBM i extension is growing in popularity and has certainly become my favorite source code editor. This article is not an attempt to convince you to drop RDi and switch to VS Code. Rather, I aim to share with you a few of my favorite settings and features in VS Code.

  Join In The Discussion

  Can’t figure out how to do something? Have a suggestion for a new enhancement? I am continually impressed with the speed at which I get responses when I post something. The team of coders and contributors to the Code for IBM i …

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• 2024 IBM i Predictions, Part Deux

  January 22, 2024 Alex Woodie

  How will 2024 unfold? Nobody knows the answer to that. But that’s not stopping members of the IBM i community from taking some swings. It’s not only a good Bayesian exercise to think through the probabilities of what may occur, but it’s often a bit of fun, too.

  Our second batch of 2024 predictions starts with IBM distinguished engineer Steve Will, who, as the IBM i chief technology officer and IBM i chief architect, doesn’t need to guess where the platform is going, since he’s literally leading the creation of it. Instead, his prediction focuses on the community.

  “2024 will …

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• IBM i Job Outlook for 2024 Not Great, But Not All Bad Either

  January 17, 2024 Bob Langieri

  First, the good news: Salaries for IBM i and RPG developers and programmers continue to go up. Average salaries of new hires of senior developers in 2023 have been getting $120,000 to $130,000. I predict this going up 6 to 10 percent in 2024, to $127,000 to $143,000. Some with specialized skills will get 10 to 20 percent more.

  This is why it’s important to add to your skills. IBM i salaries still pale compared to other more popular platforms and skills. Hiring is still very slow in the IBM RPG world as companies are doing more with less! Hot …

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• IBM i Community Shares 2024 Predictions

  January 15, 2024 Alex Woodie

  Spaceship Earth has completed another trip around the Sun, which means one thing: Time for 2024 IBM i predictions! Hopefully you enjoy this year’s predictions, which seem to sport a good mixture of optimism and realism.

  The future for IBM i is wide open – open source, that is, says Liam Allan, the creator of Code for IBM i and a software developer for IBM i.

  “My prediction is pretty simple. Businesses will continue to invest in themselves through the power of open source,” Allan says. “Whether it be using dev tools, open source runtimes like Node.js, or even newer …

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• Guru: Using Mixed Lists To Add “Data Structures” To CL Commands

  January 15, 2024 Ted Holt

  I can’t remember the last time I worked on an RPG program that had no data structures, but it was probably on a System/34. Everybody uses data structures, and with good reason – they are as handy as a pocket. When writing CL commands, it is possible to include parameters that are formatted as data structures. IBM calls them mixed lists. In the following paragraphs, I show how this is accomplished.

  You may not realize it, but you have used IBM-supplied commands that have mixed-list parameters. For example, the Copy File (CPYF) command has several such parameters: FROMKEY, TOKEY, INCCHAR, …

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• Getting [Stuff] Done Done With Briteskies

  December 4, 2023 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The IBM i ecosystem is big enough, and changes enough with the times, that we are still finding companies who are relatively new to the base but who have been around for a bit of time who are doing interesting things and who are not quite on our radar. Part of what we do is seek these companies out so we can tell you about them, what they are doing, what they see in the market, and how they can help you.

  Such is the case with Briteskies, a consultancy based in Cleveland, Ohio, that we have written about …

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