System iNetwork

October 8, 2007

Coming to RPG: Local File Support for Subprocedures

Last week George Farr tipped IBM's RPG hand and shared some upcoming enhancements to RPG with attendees at the RPG & DB2 Summit in Minneapolis. V6R1 will include local file support for subprocedures, relaxed size limits, multiple threading, and more.

I wasn't there, but a long-time System i-focused public relations person -- Amy Lantz, who used to work for SoftLanding -- sent me a well-written press release. In any event, I thought I'd share the keynote report coming out of the conference organizers. Oh, one more thing: about 175 people attended, giving this burgeoning conference a 30 percent boost over its spring event:

Minneapolis, MN -- October 4, 2007 -- As the Keynote speaker at the RPG & DB2 Summit in Minneapolis today, IBM's George Farr, Worldwide Product Line manager for WDS, WDSc, and the RPG compilers, publicly disclosed enhancements to RPG slated for the next release of i5/OS. Addressing an overflow crowd of RPG & DB2 Summit attendees, he emphasized IBM's continued investment in RPG as evidenced by several significant enhancements that make the language even more flexible and efficient. The upcoming enhancements include, among other things, support for local files in subprocedures, relaxed size restrictions, and the ability to run multiple threads within an application.

The room reacted with exclamations and applause as Farr explained that V6R1 will include local file support for subprocedures. By defining an F-spec after beginning a subprocedure, a file becomes local to the subprocedure. "You like that?" asked Farr, grinning.

IBM will also increase size limits for character fields, data structures, and arrays from 32K to 16MB to better accommodate applications that handle XML documents, which tend to be very large.

Today, RPG's serialized threads can sometimes create bottlenecks when used in a server environment. According to Farr, as of the next release, developers can expect RPG IV to have full support for multiple threads. This update positions RPG business logic to be easily called from the web without the risk of corrupting data. In addition, developers retain the option of selecting specific procedures to be serialized.

Other planned enhancements include the ability to define a file as Qualified to alleviate the need to repeatedly rename formats and the ability to reduce module size by automatically locating and deleting unreferenced variables.

Farr also elicited feedback on his "vision for the future" of "all-free RPG." Most in the audience expressed enthusiasm based on their positive experiences to date with /Free. However, a few attendees voiced concern that the lack of structure inherent in /Free does not force less experienced or less detail-oriented programmers to follow formatting standards. "Freedom comes with a price," Farr acknowledged. Vern Hamberg of RJS Software Systems suggested that one solution might be a formatting Wizard for /Free data specifications (D-specs). In typical style, Farr quipped, "Good idea. That will give Barbara [Morris] something to do this weekend." The audience continued brainstorming potential solutions, including the ability for IT organizations to define their own D-spec standards.

Attendee Melinda Miller of Lawson Software observed that RPG "won't go anywhere" if it can't run on other platforms. Farr suggested IBM's Enterprise Generation Language (EGL) as one way to extend RPG to other platforms and generate web interfaces. In addition, he said, IBM is actively working on plans to enhance EGL's integration and communication with RPG and System i resources. "Nobody is saying that EGL will replace RPG," he stressed. "Customers have a choice, use RPG IV, EGL, or both combined to solve your business problems."

Posted by cmaxcer at October 8, 2007 8:41 AM