• RPG Code Assist Is The Killer App For AI-Enhanced Power Systems

  October 23, 2024 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  “I love it when a plan comes together.” – Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith, The A Team.

  Look, we take our wisdom and our joy where we can find it here at The Four Hundred, and it does indeed look like Big Blue has a plan that is coming together with regards to generative AI and the Power Systems hardware platform as it relates to the IBM i software platform.

  We told you in Monday’s issue that IBM was up to something with regard to the Power Systems line, which was revealed to partners and presumably key …

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• Guru: Web Concepts For The RPG Developer, Part 4

  October 21, 2024 Chris Ringer

  The final article in this series is about the JWT (JSON Web Token). If you wish to review the previous articles, you can drill back from part three. For unattended machine to machine (M2M) processes, a JWT string is a formatted container for requesting access to a resource server. I think of a resource server as the applications. And in our case, the JWT has an asymmetric signature.

  But really, what is a JWT? It’s similar to a temporary driver’s license. Think about your last visit to a hotel (figure 1).

  Steps:

  1. You present your ID (JWT) during check-in

  …

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• How To Have The Wisdom Of Experts Woven Into Your Code

  October 14, 2024 Nicholas DeLessio

  No matter how far you are down the road with your DevOps automation journey, or even if you’re not yet starting that journey, it’s probably a good idea to have a code checker; not everyone can have a Linus Torvalds review their work (as famously happens with the open source Linux kernel), but there are automation tools available for various languages and platforms that do static code analysis and they are the next best thing.

  These tools, sometimes called “code linters” (because they remove the fuzzy bits out of application logic like actual linters remove imperfections stuck to our clothing), …

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• Surprise! It’s 2024 Fall TR Time for IBM i

  October 9, 2024 Alex Woodie

  IBM announced the Technology Refreshes (TRs) for IBM i version 7.5 and 7.4 yesterday, bringing a host of new capabilities to the proprietary operating system. As expected, the surprise update covers a range of IBM i facilities, including Db2, Navigator, ACS, PowerHA, and the development tools.

  Navigator gets several more enhancements with the new TRs, including: a new dashboard with software licensing information; Web-based administration of network facilities; support for monitoring of Java 11 and Java 17 jobs; enhancements to the Performance Data Investigator (PDI); and new options for working with audit journals, among other capabilities.

  IBM also includes the …

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• Eradani Taps GenAI for IBM i Integration Boost

  October 9, 2024 Alex Woodie

  Eradani introduced a new product last month that uses the power of generative AI to simplify the development of code for integration projects involving IBM i. The company says the new product, dubbed Eradani Assist, will allow customers to use natural language to tell the product to build specific application and data integrations, and the product will leverage one or more large language models (LLMs) to generate the integration code.

  Eradani calls its flagship product, Eradani Connect, an “integration hub” that manages communication into and out of the IBM i platform. The software supports application and data integration projects that …

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• Thoroughly Modern: Why Now Is The Time To Transform Your RPG/COBOL To Modern Languages

  October 7, 2024 Chris Koppe

  RPG and COBOL run some of the most important systems in business. But while your competitors release new products and features in weeks, you wait for months. That lag time is a silent threat – one that slowly erodes your competitive edge.

  Every hour spent waiting for an update, every feature delayed, is a lost opportunity. Your systems – once considered state-of-the-art – are now rigid, slow to evolve, and difficult to integrate with new technologies. While RPG/COBOL still power critical operations, they no longer support the speed and flexibility required for today’s business. The world moves faster now, and …

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• The Many Faces Of IT Modernization

  October 7, 2024 Alex Woodie

  The clarion call of modernization has been heard loud and clear among IBM i and System z shops for decades. Old IT is hampering your competitiveness, they’re told, and something must be done about it. In reality, there’s no single path to modernization, which is a multi-faceted phenomenon that can have wide ranging impacts on the business, Rocket Software says in a new report.

  Business transformation is separate from IT transformation, but the two are linked, according to Rocket Software’s new study, titled IT Modernization Without Disruption, which is based on a survey of 309 decision-maker at System …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 26, Number 38

  October 7, 2024 Doug Bidwell

  There is a hodge podge of stuff that you need to deal with this week when it comes to patching your IBM i system.

  First, there is a security vulnerability. Read all about it in Security Bulletin: Vulnerability in Node.js affects IBM Rational Developer for i RPG and COBOL + Modernization Tools, Java Edition (CVE-2024-36138), which you can find out more about at this link. The issue can be fixed by loading an interim fix. IBM strongly recommends addressing the vulnerability now by upgrading to Node.js 18.20.4. Please follow Upgrading the Node.js that is used by Cordova or NodeRed …

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• Guru: RPG Select Operation Gets Some Sweet Upgrades

  September 23, 2024 Gregory Simmons

  I have always been a fan of RPG’s Select operation. Any time I’m coding an If statement and think there’s a chance that there could be a third situation other than the If-Else conditions, I will go ahead and code the Select operation instead of the If statement. The RPG language’s Select operation got a pretty sweet upgrade in V7R5 TR2 and V7R4 TR8. Now, the Select statement can be presented with a value and we have two new op-codes to use within the Select operation; When-is and When-in.

  DISCLAIMER: The edibility of the mushrooms listed in my test …

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• Making Basic IT Services Great Again

  September 23, 2024 Alex Woodie

  The focus of the tech world has been squarely on generative AI since ChatGPT descended the golden staircase and entered our hearts and minds in late 2022. Since then, building GenAI apps and services has become the number one priority for businesses around the globe. Unfortunately, the GenAI fixation has come at the detriment of basic IT services, a recent IBM study suggests.

  The level of hype for generative AI the past two years has been off the chart. Not since the initial dot-com boom of the late 1990s has a new technology triggered such a tsunami of interest, some …

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