Newsletter Page 31
If you’re using IBM i V5R4, be sure to put Monday, September 30th, 2013 on your calendar. That is the last day that Software Maintenance (SWMA) support services will be available for V5R4. There is a “Service Extension” plan available, but, according to Timothy Prickett-Morgan, that extended support plan will probably cost 1.7 times the cost of standard support and it does not include new features or cumulative PTF packages.
The 14th ASNApalooza, the ASNA customer conference, will be held in Barcelona, Spain on April 15th and 16th this year. Attendees from around the globe will attend to learn the latest tips and techniques for ASNA’s products. Attendees will also have plenty of time to mingle and compare notes on their common issues and challenges. The conference hotel in Barcelona this year is the Hoteles Catalonia.
Arrays are one of the most frequently used data structures in computer programming. Arrays are quite different in AVR for .NET than they were in AVR Classic–but they are also vastly more powerful. This article takes a look at AVR for .NET’s arrays. This article is aimed at getting any programmer quickly up to speed with AVR’s arrays, but it should be especially helpful for programmers with an AVR Classic background. Please note that when this article references “AVR” it is speaking about AVR for .NET.
IBM has an API called Open Access that dramatically empowers ILE RPG programs to communicate with resources and devices that aren’t natively supported by RPG. This API lets RPG file IO be intercepted transparently and redirected to an Open Access “handler.” ASNA Wings, our RPG UI modernization product, and the soon-to-be-released ASNA Mobile RPG, which enables smartphones and tables to connect directly to RPG applications, both depend on Open Access. From time-to-time we encounter a customer who has the wrong information about Open Access licensing. Let’s clear the air on that subject right now!
On February 5th, 2013, IBM announced Technology Refresh 6 for IBM i V7R1. Recall that with the 2010 release of V7R1, IBM announced that there would no longer be a two year (approximately) release schedule for major versions of the IBM i OS. Seems some customers were experiencing version fatigue and expressed frustration at a new OS every two years (or so). So, in answer to the problem, IBM is using a more “out of band” approach where OS enhancements are now made available by “Technology Refreshes.”