S/38 Archives - IT Jungle

Guru: SQL Can Read Program-described Data

September 21, 2020 Ted Holt

I thought I left program-described database files behind me in 1988. That’s when I left my last S/36 shop to begin working on the S/38. Well, I did, but not completely. From time to time I work on a system with program-described files, and even some externally described files have program-described fields. Fortunately — and I owe this to Scott Forstie — I have learned that SQL can read program-described data. Will wonders never cease?

You may be thinking, “This article doesn’t apply to me. Our files are externally described.” You may be right. Then again, you may be wrong. …
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Guru: SQL Checks For Control Breaks

April 6, 2020 Ted Holt

A control break occurs when the combined value of one or more fields changes from one row (record) to the next when reading a data set sequentially. I used to write RPG programs with control breaks often. Now that reports are less common, I write them less often, but that’s not to say I never write a program with control breaks.

When I first learned to handle control breaks in RPG, I used the L1 through L9 level indicators. These worked wonderfully and fed my family for several years. When I moved from the System/36 world to the S/38 (and …
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Industry Speaks: IBM i Predictions For 2020, Part 2

January 22, 2020 Alex Woodie

What will happen in the IBM i community in 2020? It’s a question that’s worth some speculation, particularly from members of the IBM i community who have given it some thought. Here is our second (and final) batch of community predictions for 2020.

The IBM i platform has been chugging along for 32 years (or 40 if you count the S/38). Do you really think this will be the year that it goes kaput? Trevor Perry certainly doesn’t think so, and you probably shouldn’t, either.

“There will be continued predictions of the demise of IBM i throughout 2020,” the IBM …
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Java License Fallout Continues Impacting IBM i Shops

October 23, 2019 Alex Woodie

Oracle’s decision to restrict the previously free distribution of Java version 8 tools and runtimes is impacting the entire IT industry. In our little neck of the woods, the decision to charge businesses for using Oracle’s Java has forced IBM i shops to take a hard look at the technology platform, and in some cases look for alternative solutions.

Oracle ruffled feathers in the Java community in 2017, when it made substantial changes to its Java roadmap. The company announced that Java Standard Edition (SE) version 8, which is a legacy version of Java but is still in widespread use, …
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Guru: I’m A Number, You’re A Number, Everybody’s A Number

September 9, 2019 Ted Holt

Do you, like Bob Seger, sometimes feel that you are nothing more than a number? Me too. That’s because to many people, that’s exactly what we are. And if there’s one thing that computers are good at, it’s assigning numbers — to orders, to accounts, to invoices, to transactions, and of course, to people. Since we have to make the computer assign numbers, we may as well learn the modern way to do it.

In my earliest days of programming, I would store the last assigned of a series of numbers in a data file. (The S/34 and S/36 …
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Guru: SQL Can Read Program-described Data

Guru: SQL Checks For Control Breaks

Industry Speaks: IBM i Predictions For 2020, Part 2

Java License Fallout Continues Impacting IBM i Shops

Guru: I’m A Number, You’re A Number, Everybody’s A Number

Content archive

Recent Posts

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