• Thoroughly Modern: Practical Ways IBM i Developers Can Use AI Today

  December 4, 2023 Scott Gingerysty

  This October at COMMON’s NAViGATE Conference, I presented a session about practical ways that IBM i developers can use AI in their day-to-day development practices. We discussed how you can streamline and optimize the development process, improve coding velocity, enhance code hygiene, testing and documentation, and we also looked at some of the caveats. After connecting with the folks at COMMON – and seeing their enthusiasm – I felt inspired to share these examples with the IT Jungle community.

  So, why AI for developers? AI offers a transformative toolkit that streamlines learning and amplifies creative problem-solving. Through machine learning algorithms, …

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• Kyndryl Inspects The Modernization Plans Of IBM i And Mainframe Shops

  November 6, 2023 Alex Woodie

  What paths are IBM i and mainframe users taking in terms of application modernization and digital transformation, and what sorts of results are those efforts producing? Those are good questions, and they are ones that Kyndryl, the former IBM Global Technology Services arm, provides some answers to in a new report.

  Kyndryl commissioned Coleman Parkes Research to survey 500 IBM i and mainframe shops from around the world about their plans for application modernization and transformation. The survey results form the basis for its appropriately named 2023 State of Mainframe Modernization Survey Report, which you can download here. …

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• Guru: Procedure Driven RPG Means Keeping Your Variables Local

  November 6, 2023 Gregory Simmons

  One of the things I love most about procedure driven RPG is that it allows me to keep my variables locally defined. Imagine this horror story that happens all too often in RPG shops.

  Jake: “Hey Gregory, Accounting just called; seems the rebalancing report program is acting up. Didn’t I hear you were working on that the other day?”

  Me: “Ugh, yes. All I had to do was reset this field that was used to show or not show the totaling line between branches. I tested in my library and the fix worked fine.”

  Jake: “Yeah, I had to change …

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• RDi and RPG Enhancements in the 2023 Fall TRs

  October 25, 2023 Alex Woodie

  RPG developers will see some compelling new features coming out of the recent Technology Refresh (TR) announcement from IBM, including enhancements to the RDi development environment as well as new capabilities in the RPG language itself.

  RPG is nearly 65 years old, but like old dogs, the programming language can learn new tricks. The enhancements that IBM has brought to its venerable language with IBM i 7.5 TR3 and 7.4 TR9 continue a strong run of improvements, according to IBM i Product Manager Alison Butterill.

  “Every one of the TRs since we announced 7.5 has had at least some RPG …

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• What the Latest ALL400s Survey Tells Us About the IBM i Community

  October 18, 2023 Alex Woodie

  What is the most popular development tool in the IBM i community? What technology exists in nearly every shop? What BI tools are in use? And what activities are sitting in the IT backlog’s of IBM i shops? These are some of the questions that ALL400s answered with the latest edition of its IBM i community survey.

  You may have heard about ALL400s as the comprehensive list of IBM i customers around the world. John Rockwell, the Florida man behind ALL400s, does his best to keep the list as updated as possible.

  In addition to the list, Rockwell has put …

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• Fall 2023 IBM i Tech Refresh Brings Something For Everyone

  October 11, 2023 Alex Woodie

  As expected, IBM yesterday unveiled its fall Technology Refresh (TR) for IBM i, with updates starting to become available on November 17. IBM announced no new products as part of the fall 2023 TR cycle, but it did spread the love around by giving just about everybody something to cheer about in IBM i 7.5 TR3 and 7.4 TR9.

  Lots of different products that make up the IBM i environment will see some pretty meaningful enhancements with this release. If you spend a lot of time in Navigator for i or ACS, you will see new stuff. We haven’t had …

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• Thoroughly Modern: What’s New In IBM i IT Planning

  October 9, 2023 Chris Koppe

  When you picture a successful IT strategy, what comes to mind? Most would say that they picture the plan that defines how you approach your technical environment or a project. But after working on IBM i strategy and roadmaps for hundreds of organizations, I see it differently. Creating a successful strategy is all about asking the right questions. By taking the time to analyze your current situation, determine your desired outcome, and understand the reasoning behind it, you’ll be able to find a quicker and more cost-effective solution to achieve your goals. Strategy development is a conversation that leads to …

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• IBM Releases Db2 For i Extensions For VS Code

  October 9, 2023 Alex Woodie

  Interested in developing new ILE applications in VS Code that utilize the Db2 for i database? Then you’re in luck, because IBM recently created and released vscode-db2i, an open source database extension for Code for IBM i, the uber popular development environment that enables ILE programming in VS Code.

  It is tough to overstate the popularity of Code for IBM i, which Liam Allan created and released just over two years ago. The open source plug-in provides ILE functionality for Microsoft’s VS Code, enabling programmers to write and edit RPG, COBOL, C, and CL code in the lightweight, browser-based …

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• API Dev Tool Delivers For Trucking Outfit

  October 2, 2023 Alex Woodie

  When the IT leaders at Ward Transport & Logistics set out to find a product that would allow them to call outbound APIs from their IBM i server for a new dynamic pricing system, they had an inkling of what they wanted. But when they looked for an API development tool in the IBM i market, they were surprised at what they found.

  From its headquarters in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Ward Transport & Logistics provides less than truckload (LTL) service to customers throughout the region. The company’s 1,600 employees help Ward’s customers move freight with a fleet of 750 power units …

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• Guru: TryIT – You’ll Like It

  October 2, 2023 Ted Holt

  I have watched children play Whac-a-mole, but I’ve never played it myself, perhaps because the game unpleasantly reminds me of programs that I have had to work on. I fix one bug, only to see another bug rear its ugly little head. Life’s too short to endure such nonsense. Besides, it is embarrassing for someone to tell me that the program I supposedly just fixed is still broken.

  Suppose you’re working on a 4,000-line RPG program and you comment out lines 650-660. What you don’t realize at the time is that a variable used in line 2755 has to …

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