Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is being touted as a panacea for enterprises with application overloads. For the IBM i, although SOA has its uses, the technology isn't for everyone.

Written by John Ghrist

SOA is an idea that is still struggling to emerge from a cloud of hype. In principle, it sounds great. Instead of a mass of applications that handle different aspects of an enterprise's business operations, where any software modification might have numerous unintended consequences, SOA seems to promise a menu-like assortment of services for getting things done.

In the i community, EGL's biggest strength may be simply that EGL does i better than anyone, and that makes it the integration technology of choice.

Written by Joe Pluta

Over the past couple of years, I've talked quite a bit about Enterprise Generation Language (EGL) and its capabilities as a business development language. I started out as a skeptic, but I gradually came to admire the philosophy of the tool: let the business application developer focus on the business, not the technical minutiae. In today's article, I'll explain how that philosophy allows you to leverage your most important and valuable asset: your business developers.

Learn how to write simple programs in IronPython and access .NET libraries with IronPython code.

By Joydip Kanjilal

IronPython, an open-source project at CodePlex, is the latest implementation of the Python programming language in the managed environment of the Microsoft .NET framework. In IronPython, you can use all .NET libraries while writing your Python language-style code. This article examines this new offering's features and benefits. It also discusses how you can easily integrate your Python code into .NET applications and how you can call .NET libraries from your IronPython code, while still leveraging the benefits of .NET's managed platform.

This book speaks directly to the thousands of IBM i programmers who develop in RPG, COBOL, CL, and DDS every day.

By Susan Gantner

Whether you're an RSE neophyte, an experienced RSE user, or still a dyed-in-the-wool SEU user wondering if there's a better way, you should read this book. It does an excellent job of covering the basics while still offering many tips and details beyond the basics that even I didn't know--despite having used RSE for years.

The authors--Don Yantzi and Nazmin Haji--are both part of the IBM development team that produces RSE, so it's hard to find anyone who knows the toolset better.

Developing multi-tiered software has become ever easier, but deploying it is a challenge that IBM Express Runtime was designed to meet.

By Joe Pluta

There are two kinds of developers in the world. One kind loves to cobble together a powerful amalgam of the best-of-breed technologies, learning the arcane features of each type and mastering the subtle interactions between them. The other focuses more on the business logic and sees the enabling technologies as a means to an end. That may be a little bit of an oversimplification, but for the developer who has more deadlines than downtime, the IBM Express Runtime was designed to help deliver the goods.

Learn how to view and modify field values and set breakpoints in the Integrated i5/OS Debugger.

By Don Yantzi and Nazmin Haji

Editor's Note: This article is an excerpt from the new MC Press book The Remote System Explorer: Modern Developer Tools for the System i.

Viewing and Modifying Field Values

One of the most important features of any debugger is the ability to examine the values of fields in the running program.

Zoho adds powerful features to Zoho Creator 3.0 and introduces a new Marketplace to buy and sell the resulting Web applications.

By Chris Smith

There are times when you need a small application in a hurry, and you don't feel like spending a few hundred--or a few thousand--dollars to acquire it. Sometimes just the time involved shopping for the right solution can make you decide it's easier to create it yourself. At least that way, you know you're going to get what you need, not something that's "close" but actually someone else's idea of what they thought you should need.

Best Practice = Best Skills + Best Processes + Best Solutions + Best Resources + Continuous Improvement

By Joan McKittrick

You have just been hired at an IBM i shop. You are the new kid on the block, and they have assigned you the project of searching for a particular tool that fits in the application development realm. I am not going to be specific here; the application could be change management, help desk, security, cross reference, or any other of at least 20 different categories. The big question is where to start.