IBM released its long-awaited Modernizing IBM i Applications from the Database up to the User Interface and Everything in Between redbook earlier this summer. Like all Redbooks, this redbook can be freely downloaded or a hardcopy can be purchased. This books aims to be the modern reference manual on how to modernize IBM i RPG applications. From the redbooks abstract:
This IBM® Redbooks® publication is focused on melding industry preferred practices with the unique needs of the IBM i community and providing a holistic view of modernization. This book covers key trends for application structure, user interface, data access, and the database
This Redbook includes chapters on the reasonse and justifications for modernization, modern RPG, database re-engineering, user interface improvement, EGL, PHP, Web and cloud, security, and globalization. It is a very comprehensive redbook, weighing in at 678 pages. It is a huge! Some of the material in the book is solid gold, especially the RPG and database materials. Other sections miss the mark. It boggles my mind that IBM would choose to provide more than 50 pages on EGL (quick, what is that? Raise your hand if you know!) and nothing of substance on mobile computing. This Redbook is notable because it is the first Redbook that IBM has ever published that features advertising. But don’t let that bother you, of the 678 pages, there are less than 10 pages of adverts. The content of the redbook is presented without regard to third-party solutions. IBM originally solicited vendor input to be published as an appendix to the book. The book apparently expanded from its original scope and its size precluded including that info in the Redbook. Instead, that material is slated to be published in freestanding, but associated, “Solution Guide” Redpaper (Redpapers are “mini” Redbooks), on August 29th. However, as of September 10, that Redpaper hadn’t yet surfaced. Despite the occasional odd focus and a few questionable omissions (mobile computing, most notably), this Redbook is highly recommended to any shop commited to the IBM i.
