Friday, March 26, 2010

RPG Free or Fixed? OR Modernize your code base

As most of you who read this blog know I am no fan of RPG.  I in fact urge you to create plans to move away from RPG as fast as is feasible for your business.  I also recognize that this cannot be done overnight and that any realistic plan is really a 7 to 10 year plan.

I'm writing this blog tonight after a long hiatus after reading a somewhat disturbing discussion on one of the Linkedin forums about whether or not folks should using free form RPG.

While the creators and contributors were well intentioned, they are really missing the key point.  Namely the need to restructure, and modernize their existing application systems into modular ILE base reusable modular code.

I would personally take a close look at Databorough LTD's X-Analysis and related suite of products as a first step in discovery, analysis, simplification, and modernization.  I would then look at tools to refactor code into modular resuable components that can be leverage in web services and other modern technologies.  This initiative which can be highly automated can greatly reduce the cost, complexity, and risk of moving away from RPG and eliminating your dependency on IBM i.

It can also enable you to leverage your existing systems and modern service based applications and provide significant value to your organization.