Java for RPG Programmers

My impression is that RPG IV should have been called RPG-C. That would have been closer to what it seems it was intended for, RPG to attract C programmers. I think that if one had their applications designed and written in ILE RPG with service programs and proceedures, etc. then this book would be helpful in learning the java language.

If your programs are designed around RPG III, converted or not to RPG IV, plan on having to learn two languages as you attempt to understand Java.


Good Start for the RPG Programmer   December 2, 2000
Stephen R Crider (Duncannon, PA USA)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

I started with a book called Java 2 from Scratch and did a lot of scratching of my head. I think it'll be a good book for me eventually, but not right now. I needed something better to get my feet wet. A co-worker lent me his copy of Coulthard and Farr's book and I spent an evening with it. Afterwards I went to Amazon and ordered it.

If you are an RPG programmer (I'm from the ILE RPG IV side) and want to begin learning JAVA, this is the book to start with. It does a good job contrasting RPG with JAVA to as to give a decent reference point. No other book does that and I found it to be most helpful. When I finished the book, I felt a lot better about the language but I need to go further with something else (Ivor Horton's book is probably going to be the something else).

I thought the chapter on the Java Onion was really well done and very informative. The chapter on Threads was completly over my head. I'll return to that topic at some future point. The OO chapter was good but I found Jennifer Hamilton's Object Orientation for the AS/400 Programmer does a better job explaining these concepts. Over all these guys did a real fine job.

By the way, I had the privelege of attending their Java seminar at the Fall Common conference in Baltimore and they really made the seminar enjoyable. You should catch one of there presentations some time. They're a good team and keep your attention. They do a good job.

The one beef I have is they left me hanging on page 418 with the MsgBox class. They say it would be simple to add the line of code to your program to use the class. Maybe I'm being stupid, but it wasn't simple for me. They should have at least shown you how to use it because I still haven't figured it out. Phil or George, are you reading this? Maybe someone can e-mail be and let me know. Aside from that irritation, I really liked the book and would recommmend it to any RPG programmer looking to start learning JAVA. A word of caution, it's not the end all. It's a start but you will defintely need to move to something meatier as a next step.