21
Thu, Nov
1 New Articles

The Hack in the Back

General
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

When old-time green-screen programmers and New Age GUI advocates meet, there’s always a certain tension in the air. With apologies to Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, Joe Pluta draws from one of his favorite authors to depict this age-old conflict in a slightly different light.

This is the story of the Hack in the Back, a curmudgeonly old RPG programmer who lives back in the computer room and greatly resembles me (except perhaps bearing a slightly greater resemblance to Paul Newman), and his alter ego Zappie, also known as Zap-Am-I (it’s an identity thing; we’re hoping that therapy will help). Anyway, the Hack in the Back has no use for screens not green (“24-by-80 or Fight” is his motto).

Zap-Am-I, on the other hand, is attempting to drag the Hack into the 21st century— or even into the 1990s, for that matter— but the Hack isn’t having any part of it. This month’s issue of MC, with its focus on IDEs, particularly rankles the Hack, who doesn’t even like menus for Pete’s sake, much less some silly graphical front-end. “If I want pretty pictures and sounds, I’ll hook up a Nintendo,” he says, grimacing. “If I can’t do it from the command line, I don’t need to do it at all!”

Listen as the two of them square off.

“I am Zap, Zap am I. I have a pretty G-U-I.” “I do not like that Zap-Am-I. I do not like his GUI.” “Do you like my GUI?” “I do not like it, Zap-Am-I. I use green-screens, don’t you see, not something that is called Gooey.”

And so the culture clash begins. These two come from different worlds. The Hack in the Back prefers RPG, while Zap-Am-I writes Java. The Hack can barely spell GUI, while Zap has no clue what an indexed access method is but is sure he’d like one if he met it. The Hack bench-tests his code (Zap calls this “napping with your eyes open”), while Zap uses Rapid Application Development (the Hack calls this “the thousand-monkeys programming technique: Hit enough keys and eventually something will get written”). The Hack drinks coffee and eats donuts. Zap drinks Jolt and eats Ramen.

This won’t be pretty, folks.

“Green connects without a hitch. Gooey always has some glitch.” “But not with TCP/IP! CA/Express works GREAT for me!”

Ah, the first shot! The Hack immediately uses the old standby of connectivity. And once upon a time, he would have been right. Back in the days of the first cave computers, it was much easier to connect a simple green-screen to a midrange. The complexity of connecting a PC via Advanced Program-to-Program Communications (APPC) was daunting even to the network gurus: 5250 emulation was bulky and balky and just plain unreliable.

However, in these days of clean TCP/IP communications, most of those complaints have lost their relevance. The new IBM AS/400 Client Access Express for Windows (the Express client) offers an extremely thin, extremely reliable client that sets up and runs just about as easily as a green-screen. For lots of information on the Express client, please take a look at some of the recent issues of AS/400 Network Expert.

“And GUIs will run Excel! And Word! And Domino as well!” “But OfficeVision’s fine for me. I do not need your dumb PC.” “But OfficeVision’s going to die. And then you’ll need my GUI!”

In this interchange, Zap-Am-I counters with the simple point that a workstation allows someone to do a lot more than just access the AS/400. It seems like a simple enough point on the surface, but, of course, the Hack isn’t listening. He’s content to stick his head in the OfficeVision/400 (OV/400) sand, at least until Zap reminds him that this particular sandbox is not long for this world. With the formal announcement of OV/400’s demise, green-screen technology just took a serious kick in the head.

And, be honest, the truth is that a green-screen simply can’t compete with the features of graphical applications for any sort of document processing, be it spreadsheets or text. Anything from email to mass mailing can be done better, quicker, and more easily with a PC. And as sound and images proliferate, it’s becoming more and more difficult to agree with the Hack.

In fact, about the only reason to print from an AS/400 at all is that you can’t create PDF documents on the AS/400. (Well, you won’t until the June/July issue of AS/400 NetJava Expert, which will include a utility to convert AS/400 spooled files to PDF.)

“There’s very little text I do, so I am fine with SEU.

My job is writing RPG, so GUIs are not for me.” “Well, come and try an IDE and boost your productivity!” “But PDM is fine for me. I do not need your IDE.”

So! In this round, Zap-Am-I goes for the jugular. He brings out the dreaded P- word, productivity. The Hack insists that PDM is just fine, and for good old monolithic RPG or COBOL programs, he’s probably right. SDA is an excellent tool for developing green-screens, and SEU provides all the functions a programmer needs to build big, complex enterprise programs. Face it, when you spend most of your day in a single program, there’s really no reason to be able to open more than one source member (well, maybe one other member, for cutting and pasting, but hey, that’s what F15 is for).

However, in these days of smaller programming units (did I hear someone say “module”?), an IDE provides features, from mass editing to component management, that make life much easier. Mark McCall gives an excellent explanation of these features in his article, “Behold the March of IDEs: A Killer Tool for the AS/400,” elsewhere in this Focus section.

IDEs have a long and storied past, but they’ve always been the province of the workstation crowd. Those of us who first programmed on punched cards (or maybe you remember the old 3741 diskette punch) tend to have a bit of difficulty adjusting to something that immediately tells us when we make a typo and does it in color no less. Little windows popping up all over the place can be confusing, and some of those toolbars...well, who designed those icons? If the same guy were given the job of creating the international road symbols, I’d expect to see cars driving off cliffs like lemmings.

But these environments are here to stay, and I’m afraid that those of us who are comfortable with SEU are going to have to change with the times. The benefits of IDEs outweigh the shortcomings, and more features are being added every day. As the AS/400 evolves into a multilanguage, modular programming environment, we need tools to help us maintain and manage all those little bits of code. And just when we need them to, the IDE developers are starting to realize that they need to bring the “24-by-80 or Fight” crowd along and are designing their tools to ease green-screeners into the GUI paradigm. For an example of a tool that does just that, read David Morris’ article, “CODE/400: The Programmer’s Sidekick,” also in this Focus section.

All that said, the Hack still doesn’t want to listen. He’s happy in his 24-by-80 world, and there’s nothing that can budge him. It’s not looking good for our friend Zap-Am-I, but take a look at how things work out:

“I see you are not fond of me. I see you hate my IDE. I see you hate my GUI. I think that I am going to cry.” “Oh please, don’t cry because of me. I will try your IDE. If you promise not to cry, I’ll really try your GUI.”

Ah! Zap-Am-I pulls out all the stops to get the Hack in the Back to at least try the IDE, to give it an honest shot— which is what each of us needs to do before we decide whether or not IDEs are the right tool for us.

So how do you know if an IDE is for you? There’s only one way. Try it. And don’t just use the examples or tutorials the vendor might supply. Go outside the box a little. Do the kind of development you normally do. Or maybe even attempt the kind of programming you want to do in the future; if you think you might be changing your programming model, make sure that the IDE fits what you want to do.

For example, here’s my rule for an AS/400 development tool: If it makes writing a simple one-panel display program easier, then it’s probably a good tool for me. More importantly, it must be able to help me when I’m designing server programs, programs with no user interface at all. Even if a tool generates lovely progress reports, tells me my errors in fluent French, and plays soothing MIDI music in the background, if it makes my job more difficult, it’s a bad tool.

How can an IDE make my job more difficult? If it takes longer to do the same thing than if I were using SEU and SDA, that makes my job more difficult. If the IDE locks up and loses my changes, that makes my job way more difficult. If the tool can’t handle certain features of the language, that makes my job more difficult. (This is a special consideration for AS/400 IDEs: If they don’t keep up with OS/400, these IDEs can cause you grief, especially if you’re one of those brave souls who lives on the bleeding edge of technology.) If the tool forces me into certain programming techniques, that makes my job more difficult, too. (Even though this is usually more of a problem for code generators than IDEs, it’s still a consideration.)

However, if I don’t run into these problems, I may find that an IDE helps my development, especially as I move into the world of distributed development. See what the Hack thinks:

“Zap-Am-I, your IDE is making coding fun for me! I like the colors, like the speed. Your IDE has all I need! I like the edit features, too. Especially, I like Undo! Zap-Am-I, I finally see! I think I like your IDE! I even like your GUI. It really makes my coding fly! You really are some kind of guy. I like your style, Zap-Am-I!”

And so we see that even the Hack in the Back can, if he’s willing to try new things, begin to enjoy the benefits of an IDE.

Author’s Note: The curious (or bored) among you might be wondering which of the above characters is really closer to me. The answer is...both. Well, I used to be the Hack in the Back, and now I’m Zap-Am-I (although not quite as midrange-illiterate, I hope).

True Story: In the early ’80s, when the IBM PC (and XT and AT!) first came out, I took one look at the CGA graphics, with its four colors and pixels the size of golf balls, and decided then and there that graphics were a fad (the Hack in the Back!). Needless to say, this opinion caused me some embarrassment as the years went on. Ironically, I ended up in charge of a major graphical client/server development project using OS/2 and OS/400 and began to see the light. Now, with the advent of Java, I’m finally coming fully into the graphical fold (Zap-Am-I!).

Joe Pluta

Joe Pluta is the founder and chief architect of Pluta Brothers Design, Inc. He has been extending the IBM midrange since the days of the IBM System/3. Joe uses WebSphere extensively, especially as the base for PSC/400, the only product that can move your legacy systems to the Web using simple green-screen commands. He has written several books, including Developing Web 2.0 Applications with EGL for IBM i, E-Deployment: The Fastest Path to the Web, Eclipse: Step by Step, and WDSC: Step by Step. Joe performs onsite mentoring and speaks at user groups around the country. You can reach him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


MC Press books written by Joe Pluta available now on the MC Press Bookstore.

Developing Web 2.0 Applications with EGL for IBM i Developing Web 2.0 Applications with EGL for IBM i
Joe Pluta introduces you to EGL Rich UI and IBM’s Rational Developer for the IBM i platform.
List Price $39.95

Now On Sale

WDSC: Step by Step WDSC: Step by Step
Discover incredibly powerful WDSC with this easy-to-understand yet thorough introduction.
List Price $74.95

Now On Sale

Eclipse: Step by Step Eclipse: Step by Step
Quickly get up to speed and productivity using Eclipse.
List Price $59.00

Now On Sale

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS

LATEST COMMENTS

Support MC Press Online

$

Book Reviews

Resource Center

  • SB Profound WC 5536 Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application. You can find Part 1 here. In Part 2 of our free Node.js Webinar Series, Brian May teaches you the different tooling options available for writing code, debugging, and using Git for version control. Brian will briefly discuss the different tools available, and demonstrate his preferred setup for Node development on IBM i or any platform. Attend this webinar to learn:

  • SB Profound WP 5539More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT Generic IBM announced the E1080 servers using the latest Power10 processor in September 2021. The most powerful processor from IBM to date, Power10 is designed to handle the demands of doing business in today’s high-tech atmosphere, including running cloud applications, supporting big data, and managing AI workloads. But what does Power10 mean for your data center? In this recorded webinar, IBMers Dan Sundt and Dylan Boday join IBM Power Champion Tom Huntington for a discussion on why Power10 technology is the right strategic investment if you run IBM i, AIX, or Linux. In this action-packed hour, Tom will share trends from the IBM i and AIX user communities while Dan and Dylan dive into the tech specs for key hardware, including:

  • Magic MarkTRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now!  Request Now.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericForms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericIT security is a top priority for businesses around the world, but most IBM i pros don’t know where to begin—and most cybersecurity experts don’t know IBM i. In this session, Robin Tatam explores the business impact of lax IBM i security, the top vulnerabilities putting IBM i at risk, and the steps you can take to protect your organization. If you’re looking to avoid unexpected downtime or corrupted data, you don’t want to miss this session.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericCan you trust all of your users all of the time? A typical end user receives 16 malicious emails each month, but only 17 percent of these phishing campaigns are reported to IT. Once an attack is underway, most organizations won’t discover the breach until six months later. A staggering amount of damage can occur in that time. Despite these risks, 93 percent of organizations are leaving their IBM i systems vulnerable to cybercrime. In this on-demand webinar, IBM i security experts Robin Tatam and Sandi Moore will reveal:

  • FORTRA Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAManaging messages on your IBM i can be more than a full-time job if you have to do it manually. Messages need a response and resources must be monitored—often over multiple systems and across platforms. How can you be sure you won’t miss important system events? Automate your message center with the Robot Message Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAThe thought of printing, distributing, and storing iSeries reports manually may reduce you to tears. Paper and labor costs associated with report generation can spiral out of control. Mountains of paper threaten to swamp your files. Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing. Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAFor over 30 years, Robot has been a leader in systems management for IBM i. With batch job creation and scheduling at its core, the Robot Job Scheduling Solution reduces the opportunity for human error and helps you maintain service levels, automating even the biggest, most complex runbooks. Manage your job schedule with the Robot Job Scheduling Solution. Key features include:

  • LANSA Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.

  • LANSAWhen it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed. Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:

  • LANSASupply Chain is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. From raw materials for manufacturing to food supply chains, the journey from source to production to delivery to consumers is marred with inefficiencies, manual processes, shortages, recalls, counterfeits, and scandals. In this webinar, we discuss how:

  • The MC Resource Centers bring you the widest selection of white papers, trial software, and on-demand webcasts for you to choose from. >> Review the list of White Papers, Trial Software or On-Demand Webcast at the MC Press Resource Center. >> Add the items to yru Cart and complet he checkout process and submit

  • Profound Logic Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application.

  • SB Profound WC 5536Join us for this hour-long webcast that will explore:

  • Fortra IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn: