While there are probably several examples of great educational opportunities in the IBM i space, COMMON has to be the most popular. If you did not make it to COMMON you missed a great show and I’m going to take a few minutes to discuss what you missed. I have to say that I have been to several COMMON conferences and that this one was laid out really well. Reno was so spread out I got plenty of exercise walking form session to session. The fact that I gave 10 talks with one of the being a repeat means I really had my skates on in Orlando. But in all cases we were able to concentrate on a single area of the hotel where we had access to all of the session rooms. This was a really nice feature! The Expo and main event rooms were also very conveniently located.
Big speaker?
I wish I could tell you that I was the most popular presenter at the event. While the numbers are still being tabulated I must say I did OK but Scott Klement blew out nearly every room in which he appeared! In one case, the COMMON and Hotel staff opened an air-wall to make room for folks who were sitting on the floor and standing in the aisles to hear him speak. If I wasn’t so darn busy I would have probably checked him out myself! Check out his videos at you tube.
What about the expo?
The expo is what I look forward to the most. As a vendor, I had “booth duty”. This includes things like setup, working the booth, meeting people and breakdown. Obviously meeting the people there is the highlight of my trip and I met lots of folks who are doing all kinds of exciting things with PHP on IBM i. We even had a special visit from the PHP Elephpant who was making his debut appearance at COMMON 2010!
And the nightlife?
Then there were the evening events. The first night we had the power down, “Ask the Experts” session. I have always enjoyed this session as a customer because I had virtually unbridled access to IBM and community experts for many topics. I was working the Open System table with abunch of folks from around the world
Friday, May 14, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
One way to succeed with PHP on IBM i
One question I field a lot is “Do I really need to know HTML in order to program in PHP?” In my opinion the answer is an unequivocal “YES!” And I can’t put enough exclamation points after that YES! As many who will read this are IBM i developers, I feel comfortable challenging you to think back to when you learned RPG and were first exposed to interactive programming. There is this funny little language called DDS (Data Definition Specifications) that was used to describe data, display formats and report formats. This odd language was so simple in its design and so obvious in its use. But it has started to fall away with the advent of SQL, report writers like Query Manager & DB2 Web Query and newer UI technologies such as PHP, RPG-CGI and others. Many in the RPG arena I have talked to don’t seem to think there was any effort expended in learning DDS. Seems a bit strange but I challenge you to consider, if you can, the number of hours you spent learning the nuances of DDS for interactive processing. And if you have trouble, think back to your first subfile program and the first time you struggled with a subfile issue.
Why is this so important to me? Well, you see, a good friend of mine was trying to learn PHP in my class and he got so frustrated he walked away. Not because he could not grasp the PHP but because he struggled with the application of PHP in the web presentation realm: i.e HTML. I feel that I let him down all the time he was struggling assuming he would just “pick it up”. I should have added more HTML content to the class or offered more assistance. There was a huge gap and he ultimately felt it was no longer worth the time or stress. I have spent a great deal of time reflecting up upon this issue and have decided to recommit as much energy as possible into encouraging IBM i developers to learn HTML as soon as possible.
So where do I go to learn HTML? There is an abundance of resources on the internet that are fabulous for learning HTML. Since there are far too many resources to discuss that cost absolutely nothing I prefer to give one example of each and allow you to spend a little time using Google to discover another. Better yet, add a comment to this article with your favorite place to find good info about general web development. First there are the free resources like W3schools.com, which is a great place to start. Their online list of tags and examples are well worth the time to review. Second there are books. My favorite is the Head First HTML with CSS and XHML. This book takes the knowledge you gain from the places like w3schools and applies the concepts in an actual application. Granted they are basic in nature but that is still a great start. Third are classes like the ones at the local community college. Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, IL hosts a 16 week class on HTML and Java Script.
Wait Mike, you started talking about HTML and now your babbling on about CSS and Java Script! What gives? Yes, I realize I am all over the board, here. The first thing any IBM i developer must accept about the web programming realm is that this world is different than the world of RPG and COBOL. Suck it up and get used to it. I can’t change it for you and neither can IBM, Microsoft or Google. But we can make it a little easier to understand. So let’s reign it in with a few IBM i analogies that might help. HTML has to do with formatting. Think of the display attributes and subfiles you build using DDS. HTML controls the look and feel of your site. Now if you think about a good application that you built using DDS you probably got into the use of reference fields. In many cases this is where you set up standard sizes and attributes for many data elements in your display files. The field reference file, sometimes referred to as a Data Dictionary is somewhat akin to the Cascading Style Sheet or CSS. CSS is a super-charged version of the data dictionary and is used to maintain the consistency of website layout across multiple pages. So if you choose that your HTML table (something that looks a lot like a subfile) should always have a grey background, bold piping, heading in italics and every other bar alternating a green background then you would want to use a CSS. The CSS saves you the trouble of hard coding formatting on every page and lets you focus more on the application when working in PHP.
But what about Java Script, Mike? Yes, dear JavaScript. Well, it used to be that folks wanting to add special functionality to their web pages would occasionally use JavaScript. In fact, I remember the early wars where folks would disable JavaScript in hopes of making their browsers safe. As in many risks to humans today the benefits far outweigh the risks. Many of us are taking JavaScript for granted when surfing web pages like Google and others. The “magic” that auto completes search box entries is often times JavaScript! And, if you think you need to deliver that functionality for your users you are absolutely correct. Why? Because they are surfing Google, too and expect jst as much from you as they get form the hundred or so web developers at Google.
The good news is that this is all achievable. But as the old Chinese proverb says, ‘The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’. You too must realize that this can be learned but you have to start somewhere. So, what is Mike’s prescription? Here is a guidline and not a guarantee:
- Go to w3schools (or some portal) and start learning HTML (30 days)
o You can program HTML on your IBM i or your PC. You pick.
o The only way to learn this is by doing it
o If you are looking for examples of how to do something in HTML just go to a given web page that has it working and click “View?Page Source. In Firefox it is CTRL-U.
- Now you can start learning PHP. (60 days)
o Come to Zend for the PHP for RPG Programmers course
o But there are books
o And online portals to help with that too
- Get some CSS training (15 days)
o Again books and online tutorials are great.
o Don’t forget about your local community college
o Or maybe your local user group…
o Go to csszengarden.com for examples of the power of CSS!
- By now the JavaScript stuff will start making sense (30 days)
o Same as above
o No longer an option, thou shalt learn JavaScript!
Please understand that a lot of what is placed in this article applies to just about any web programming paradigm. PLEASE do not let some slick sales person sell you on how easy their “tool” is to learn and use and that you will never need to learn a given technology although you make a living developing in it. It is important to understand how the technology works for you to support it. Tools can help bridge the gap and accelerate the learning, in some cases. But you will need to learn these basic technologies to do web development regardless of your path.
Lastly, the only way to learn this stuff is to play. Get your hands dirty and “JUST DO IT!” The Matrix was a movie that showed how easy it is to learn things and until that becomes a reality you need to start at the beginning and work through it.
Good luck!
Why is this so important to me? Well, you see, a good friend of mine was trying to learn PHP in my class and he got so frustrated he walked away. Not because he could not grasp the PHP but because he struggled with the application of PHP in the web presentation realm: i.e HTML. I feel that I let him down all the time he was struggling assuming he would just “pick it up”. I should have added more HTML content to the class or offered more assistance. There was a huge gap and he ultimately felt it was no longer worth the time or stress. I have spent a great deal of time reflecting up upon this issue and have decided to recommit as much energy as possible into encouraging IBM i developers to learn HTML as soon as possible.
So where do I go to learn HTML? There is an abundance of resources on the internet that are fabulous for learning HTML. Since there are far too many resources to discuss that cost absolutely nothing I prefer to give one example of each and allow you to spend a little time using Google to discover another. Better yet, add a comment to this article with your favorite place to find good info about general web development. First there are the free resources like W3schools.com, which is a great place to start. Their online list of tags and examples are well worth the time to review. Second there are books. My favorite is the Head First HTML with CSS and XHML. This book takes the knowledge you gain from the places like w3schools and applies the concepts in an actual application. Granted they are basic in nature but that is still a great start. Third are classes like the ones at the local community college. Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, IL hosts a 16 week class on HTML and Java Script.
Wait Mike, you started talking about HTML and now your babbling on about CSS and Java Script! What gives? Yes, I realize I am all over the board, here. The first thing any IBM i developer must accept about the web programming realm is that this world is different than the world of RPG and COBOL. Suck it up and get used to it. I can’t change it for you and neither can IBM, Microsoft or Google. But we can make it a little easier to understand. So let’s reign it in with a few IBM i analogies that might help. HTML has to do with formatting. Think of the display attributes and subfiles you build using DDS. HTML controls the look and feel of your site. Now if you think about a good application that you built using DDS you probably got into the use of reference fields. In many cases this is where you set up standard sizes and attributes for many data elements in your display files. The field reference file, sometimes referred to as a Data Dictionary is somewhat akin to the Cascading Style Sheet or CSS. CSS is a super-charged version of the data dictionary and is used to maintain the consistency of website layout across multiple pages. So if you choose that your HTML table (something that looks a lot like a subfile) should always have a grey background, bold piping, heading in italics and every other bar alternating a green background then you would want to use a CSS. The CSS saves you the trouble of hard coding formatting on every page and lets you focus more on the application when working in PHP.
But what about Java Script, Mike? Yes, dear JavaScript. Well, it used to be that folks wanting to add special functionality to their web pages would occasionally use JavaScript. In fact, I remember the early wars where folks would disable JavaScript in hopes of making their browsers safe. As in many risks to humans today the benefits far outweigh the risks. Many of us are taking JavaScript for granted when surfing web pages like Google and others. The “magic” that auto completes search box entries is often times JavaScript! And, if you think you need to deliver that functionality for your users you are absolutely correct. Why? Because they are surfing Google, too and expect jst as much from you as they get form the hundred or so web developers at Google.
The good news is that this is all achievable. But as the old Chinese proverb says, ‘The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’. You too must realize that this can be learned but you have to start somewhere. So, what is Mike’s prescription? Here is a guidline and not a guarantee:
- Go to w3schools (or some portal) and start learning HTML (30 days)
o You can program HTML on your IBM i or your PC. You pick.
o The only way to learn this is by doing it
o If you are looking for examples of how to do something in HTML just go to a given web page that has it working and click “View?Page Source. In Firefox it is CTRL-U.
- Now you can start learning PHP. (60 days)
o Come to Zend for the PHP for RPG Programmers course
o But there are books
o And online portals to help with that too
- Get some CSS training (15 days)
o Again books and online tutorials are great.
o Don’t forget about your local community college
o Or maybe your local user group…
o Go to csszengarden.com for examples of the power of CSS!
- By now the JavaScript stuff will start making sense (30 days)
o Same as above
o No longer an option, thou shalt learn JavaScript!
Please understand that a lot of what is placed in this article applies to just about any web programming paradigm. PLEASE do not let some slick sales person sell you on how easy their “tool” is to learn and use and that you will never need to learn a given technology although you make a living developing in it. It is important to understand how the technology works for you to support it. Tools can help bridge the gap and accelerate the learning, in some cases. But you will need to learn these basic technologies to do web development regardless of your path.
Lastly, the only way to learn this stuff is to play. Get your hands dirty and “JUST DO IT!” The Matrix was a movie that showed how easy it is to learn things and until that becomes a reality you need to start at the beginning and work through it.
Good luck!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Spring has sprung!
So it’s another Spring with lots of changes. Many exciting things going on with Zend, IBM i and the industry as a whole. As I run around I get to talk to lots of folks. I figured I’d share what I have been hearing and a little of what I’ve seen. Last week I presented six sessions for the SystemiNetwork iEssentials Virtual Conference. I wasn’t sure how this event would work. With virtual booths, virtual speakers and virtual refreshments it really was a huge success. Over 1,400 people registered and attended the two day event that covered many topics intersecting in the IBM i space like Document Management, RPG, .Net and, of course, PHP! The recordings and session materials are now available for those who could not attend. What a great alternative to the live conference for shops that just cannot afford to make the trip to a big event. Even the networking room was packed with folks talking about all kinds of stuff!
As I write this I am preparing for the annual WMCPA conference in Delavan Wisconsin. This group of volunteers always puts on a good show with lots of value for the attendees. There will be no less of that for this year’s event as it starts with an optional full day TCP/IP event led by Larry Bolhuis. I especially look forward to the Tuesday evening panel discussion with such IBM i luminaries like Aaron Bartel, Trevor Perry, Alison Butterill and some guy from Chicago blathering on about PHP. With two days of sessions covering RPG, PHP, Java and Rational there is something for everyone.
Next week I get to head to the mid-Atlantic midrange group to show of PHP and Zend Server to the folks on the East coast. This event is a reschedule as a result of the lovely weather they endured last month. I am not hoping for a repeat, here!
The big event we are all awaiting is COMMON. With the 50th anniversary, IBM i 7.1 and a new PHP stack, what more could you be looking for? Well, how about some killer networking sessions where you can talk to nearly anyone and everyone in the IBM i space. From the “ask the experts” Power Down event to the final closing event and CUDS2 there are a boatload of opportunities to chat with people from around the country about Power systems and IBM i. I will be present about 6 sessions on PHP in additional to hanging out with the CAAC (COMMON Americas Advisory Council). Be sure to get your requirements in for the CAAC so IBM i can continue to evolve.
In a few more weeks I will be heading down to Chattanooga, Tennessee to meet with the folks at Tennessee Valley Midrange.his should be a great time to meet with some folks I have not had a chance to hook up with.And this area of the country is showing some serious IBM i street cred with customers and applications all over PHP and RPG.
The Springtime conference season is upon us! If you can’t get out to a big show then support your local user group as there are many more events coming soon or going on all the time. If you have not looked up your local user group in a while maybe it’s time to Google them and see what they are up to. You might just be surprised!!!
Get ready: Zend Server for IBM i is right around the corner. The bakers in R&D are cooking up a good batch and it’s starting smell like it’s about done!
As I write this I am preparing for the annual WMCPA conference in Delavan Wisconsin. This group of volunteers always puts on a good show with lots of value for the attendees. There will be no less of that for this year’s event as it starts with an optional full day TCP/IP event led by Larry Bolhuis. I especially look forward to the Tuesday evening panel discussion with such IBM i luminaries like Aaron Bartel, Trevor Perry, Alison Butterill and some guy from Chicago blathering on about PHP. With two days of sessions covering RPG, PHP, Java and Rational there is something for everyone.
Next week I get to head to the mid-Atlantic midrange group to show of PHP and Zend Server to the folks on the East coast. This event is a reschedule as a result of the lovely weather they endured last month. I am not hoping for a repeat, here!
The big event we are all awaiting is COMMON. With the 50th anniversary, IBM i 7.1 and a new PHP stack, what more could you be looking for? Well, how about some killer networking sessions where you can talk to nearly anyone and everyone in the IBM i space. From the “ask the experts” Power Down event to the final closing event and CUDS2 there are a boatload of opportunities to chat with people from around the country about Power systems and IBM i. I will be present about 6 sessions on PHP in additional to hanging out with the CAAC (COMMON Americas Advisory Council). Be sure to get your requirements in for the CAAC so IBM i can continue to evolve.
In a few more weeks I will be heading down to Chattanooga, Tennessee to meet with the folks at Tennessee Valley Midrange.his should be a great time to meet with some folks I have not had a chance to hook up with.And this area of the country is showing some serious IBM i street cred with customers and applications all over PHP and RPG.
The Springtime conference season is upon us! If you can’t get out to a big show then support your local user group as there are many more events coming soon or going on all the time. If you have not looked up your local user group in a while maybe it’s time to Google them and see what they are up to. You might just be surprised!!!
Get ready: Zend Server for IBM i is right around the corner. The bakers in R&D are cooking up a good batch and it’s starting smell like it’s about done!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Top 10 List:What IT Managers should get for their team
As 2009 drew to a close I noticed a lot of articles from folks about resolutions and summaries of the year. I thought about doing something similar and then said to myself “let’s not reinvent the wheel, here!” But I still wanted to talk about a something to help IT managers and staff so I thought I’d put a new spin on the wish list concept. This list is my recommendation for what the IT Manager in an IBM i shop should get for staff in 2010.
Now many people are thinking why should the IT manager get me anything? Maybe you get a review and a couple of bucks each year. In the spirit of giving and capitalism, can’t we share a little more with the people who are producing in hopes of maybe building a better team? My list has 10 items that I think every IBM i shop should have and I will count them down to what I feel is the best item. Sorting them in order was no easy process and I still believe ALL of them have great value. I welcome comments from all members of the IT staff as responses to this piece. You never know if your boss is reading this and maybe will surprise you before Valentine’s Day!
#10 Upgrade to i6.1
No, IBM is not sponsoring my blog. Not yet, at least! (You listening, Craig?) Keeping current with patches, PTF’s and versions of the OS was one of the most important things I did as an IT director. It breaks my heart to run into folks who can only code RPG III style applications because some penny pincher locked the hardware or software at a certain level. I have talked to many companies still running V5R4 and I know that IBM has extended the life of that version. But please, take advantage of performance increases, database functionality, RPG features and great additions to the OS like CL commands for SSH in i6.1. Besides, getting current now will only make it easier to move to i7.1 this Spring! For those of you stuck on V5R4, the Zend stack still runs and is supported there.
#9 Plan your trip to ZendCon now!
November 1-4 is the date for the number one PHP event in the world. Wouldn’t it be an awesome way to motivate the team by offering a round trip to San Jose to meet and greet PHP developers from around the world sharing ideas and code regarding our favorite technology? I recently read a blog about a long time IBM i player and her first trip to ZendCon and how this will now be added in as an annual pilgrimage. I had the pleasure of meeting PHP developers for the IBM i from all over the globe. So plan for so many of your staffers this year and so many next year. Get it in the budget and I hope to see you there!
#8 Zend offers training credits
This is a really great way to tell your staff how much you appreciate them. Investing in education is expensive, but so is ignorance! Zend Training Credits offer the maximum flexibility to an IT manager while delivering a predictable expense. You purchase them in bulk and use them as the year rolls on for any online class that Zend offers. This way you do not lock you or your staff into a fixed training cycle. If they need a little more time between classes, they can take it. If they pick things up a little quicker you can accelerate their pace. This is the ultimate in flexibility and works well within tight budgets!
#7 Power 6 hardware
Upgrading your OS is great. Upgrading your hardware is even greater! Recently I had the opportunity to use a brand new Power 6 machine instead of the LPAR I have on a Power 5 box. I installed the Zend stack in a fraction of the time it usually takes me to complete the exercise. This means IBM is really delivering on its promise of more and more for less and less. If you are on lease you should seriously consider the cost savings in maintenance and productivity improvements of your staff and users by taking a good hard look at some new hardware. Give your BP a shout today!
#6 Development LPAR
Too many companies that I run into these days still have the developers in the same machine AND the same LPAR as production. This is a HUGE red flag for any ITIL or SOX compliance issue. But for years it was difficult to cost justify giving the developers their own box because the price was high and library lists worked too well. Well, as applications continue to get more and more complicated and middleware continues to get more and more integrated the library list is getting to be harder and harder to rely on. But fear not, if you upgrade to i6.1 on Power 6 hardware, IBM has implemented this new thing called Guest IBM i LPAR! These LPAR’s do not have the hardware requirements that the old LPAR’s had and can be configured in minutes instead of hours. Once you get the hang of it, you could fire up an LPAR for each developer. So if you cannot afford an additional machine, you can still isolate your developers from the production environment at a very low cost. Take a look at this great feature today! You know you want to upgrade, this could be a really good reason to find justification.
#5 Zend Developer Solution
So you are taking the leap into PHP and maybe you bought a little training. Your developers have avidly watched all of the IBM i webcasts out at Zend.com and are actively building the next web page. But they get stuck on something. They read through the forums and are confused. They can do something a myriad of ways, but which is the best? Zend has the answer with the development bundle. The development bundle is very nice because it wraps a full versions of Zend Studio with telephone support along with a full version of Zend Platform with telephone support. This alone takes the bundle a great deal but for enterprise customers we throw in 8 hours of “how-to” consulting with one of our Zend PHP sharp-shooters! By giving the developers 2 incidents of 4 hours each in the standard package and 4 incidents of 4 hours each for Enterprise, you now have the ability to call Zend when you hit a brick wall or just plain want to understand something a little bit better. Zend Framework how to is included in the Enterprise package and has become VERY popular among IBM i shops. And if you run out of time, don’t worry. We would be happy to sell you more!
#4 PHP Architect Magazine
If your budget is REALLY tight then this will work for you. Our good friends at PHP Architect magazine publish a very affordable monthly magazine that is loaded with great PHP and Framework advice. Articles on all sorts of topics like best practices, IDE’s debugging and the latest and greatest concepts of UI development using PHP applications are available and you get both print and a PDF copy for the low-low price of $35 for the year of 12 issues. Don’t worry that the content would be too advanced. While some article really gets deep into the fun of PHP, there are others like the “HTML for Developers” piece in the October 2009 issue that is ideal for anyone looking to pick up PHP! One of the truly interesting pieces is the ElePHPants pictures. This is a page dedicated to folks traveling the world with their little blue PHP Elephants and snapping a candid shot in interesting places.
#3 Kevin and Jeff’s really good book – IBM i Programmers Guide to PHP
Anyone starting out with PHP on IBM i must get this book. This book was written by two guys who have excellent skills in their respective areas and a completely open mind about each other’s space. Kevin is a PHP sharpshooter who has a day job as a Technical Consultant at Zend and moonlights as a musician. Jeff is a long time IBM midranger and currently heads up iManifest and enjoys stargazing in the Southern California skies. This book covers a lot of the fundamentals of basic PHP and how it works on IBM i. Code samples and a companion website on Linked-In give you a great start with PHP. It is available from MC Press.
#2 COMMON 2010: 50 years and counting!
The annual COMMON conference is a must see for any IBM i developer, manager or administrator. The content is solid and lots of great speakers and attendees to network with. Plus a bunch of 50th anniversary activities for all to share. Staff will get a lot of good education and management needs to check out the ITEC conference where IT industry leaders get and exclusive executive experience that is second to none!. I will be there with a host of other PHP bigots talking about the latest features of IBM i, the Zend stack and much more. Not to mention the announcements about the new version of the operating system. Make your plans today and come join the fun. I will be at the Zend booth, presenting or hanging out with the CAAC members.
#1 Zend Server for IBM i
The next generation PHP stack for IBM i is currently in beta and due for GA sometime REALLY soon. This has easily been the best Christmas present I could have asked for. If you haven’t had a chance to download and play you are really missing out! There is no automated upgrade path from Zend Core/Platform to Zend Server and this implementation allows you to run parallel quite nicely. This allows existing PHP shops to continue working while testing the new stack all on the same LPAR. Enhanced performance and lots of new features like code tracing and Job Queue make this solution a must see. Plus we eliminated the Apache server inside PASE and cleaned up a lot of the administration with a single user interface. Easier implementation, administration and usage will give management and staff a lot to be thankful for this New Year. Yes, this stack will run on all supported IBM i operating systems (V5R4, i6.1 and whatever they decide to call the next one).
I hope my list helps your shop plan and enjoy 2010. I think there is a lot to chew on in there and many great places to show your staff you care by investing a little and getting a whole lot! Please let me know what is essential in your IT strategy for the New Year. Good luck in 2010 and God Bless!
Now many people are thinking why should the IT manager get me anything? Maybe you get a review and a couple of bucks each year. In the spirit of giving and capitalism, can’t we share a little more with the people who are producing in hopes of maybe building a better team? My list has 10 items that I think every IBM i shop should have and I will count them down to what I feel is the best item. Sorting them in order was no easy process and I still believe ALL of them have great value. I welcome comments from all members of the IT staff as responses to this piece. You never know if your boss is reading this and maybe will surprise you before Valentine’s Day!
#10 Upgrade to i6.1
No, IBM is not sponsoring my blog. Not yet, at least! (You listening, Craig?) Keeping current with patches, PTF’s and versions of the OS was one of the most important things I did as an IT director. It breaks my heart to run into folks who can only code RPG III style applications because some penny pincher locked the hardware or software at a certain level. I have talked to many companies still running V5R4 and I know that IBM has extended the life of that version. But please, take advantage of performance increases, database functionality, RPG features and great additions to the OS like CL commands for SSH in i6.1. Besides, getting current now will only make it easier to move to i7.1 this Spring! For those of you stuck on V5R4, the Zend stack still runs and is supported there.
#9 Plan your trip to ZendCon now!
November 1-4 is the date for the number one PHP event in the world. Wouldn’t it be an awesome way to motivate the team by offering a round trip to San Jose to meet and greet PHP developers from around the world sharing ideas and code regarding our favorite technology? I recently read a blog about a long time IBM i player and her first trip to ZendCon and how this will now be added in as an annual pilgrimage. I had the pleasure of meeting PHP developers for the IBM i from all over the globe. So plan for so many of your staffers this year and so many next year. Get it in the budget and I hope to see you there!
#8 Zend offers training credits
This is a really great way to tell your staff how much you appreciate them. Investing in education is expensive, but so is ignorance! Zend Training Credits offer the maximum flexibility to an IT manager while delivering a predictable expense. You purchase them in bulk and use them as the year rolls on for any online class that Zend offers. This way you do not lock you or your staff into a fixed training cycle. If they need a little more time between classes, they can take it. If they pick things up a little quicker you can accelerate their pace. This is the ultimate in flexibility and works well within tight budgets!
#7 Power 6 hardware
Upgrading your OS is great. Upgrading your hardware is even greater! Recently I had the opportunity to use a brand new Power 6 machine instead of the LPAR I have on a Power 5 box. I installed the Zend stack in a fraction of the time it usually takes me to complete the exercise. This means IBM is really delivering on its promise of more and more for less and less. If you are on lease you should seriously consider the cost savings in maintenance and productivity improvements of your staff and users by taking a good hard look at some new hardware. Give your BP a shout today!
#6 Development LPAR
Too many companies that I run into these days still have the developers in the same machine AND the same LPAR as production. This is a HUGE red flag for any ITIL or SOX compliance issue. But for years it was difficult to cost justify giving the developers their own box because the price was high and library lists worked too well. Well, as applications continue to get more and more complicated and middleware continues to get more and more integrated the library list is getting to be harder and harder to rely on. But fear not, if you upgrade to i6.1 on Power 6 hardware, IBM has implemented this new thing called Guest IBM i LPAR! These LPAR’s do not have the hardware requirements that the old LPAR’s had and can be configured in minutes instead of hours. Once you get the hang of it, you could fire up an LPAR for each developer. So if you cannot afford an additional machine, you can still isolate your developers from the production environment at a very low cost. Take a look at this great feature today! You know you want to upgrade, this could be a really good reason to find justification.
#5 Zend Developer Solution
So you are taking the leap into PHP and maybe you bought a little training. Your developers have avidly watched all of the IBM i webcasts out at Zend.com and are actively building the next web page. But they get stuck on something. They read through the forums and are confused. They can do something a myriad of ways, but which is the best? Zend has the answer with the development bundle. The development bundle is very nice because it wraps a full versions of Zend Studio with telephone support along with a full version of Zend Platform with telephone support. This alone takes the bundle a great deal but for enterprise customers we throw in 8 hours of “how-to” consulting with one of our Zend PHP sharp-shooters! By giving the developers 2 incidents of 4 hours each in the standard package and 4 incidents of 4 hours each for Enterprise, you now have the ability to call Zend when you hit a brick wall or just plain want to understand something a little bit better. Zend Framework how to is included in the Enterprise package and has become VERY popular among IBM i shops. And if you run out of time, don’t worry. We would be happy to sell you more!
#4 PHP Architect Magazine
If your budget is REALLY tight then this will work for you. Our good friends at PHP Architect magazine publish a very affordable monthly magazine that is loaded with great PHP and Framework advice. Articles on all sorts of topics like best practices, IDE’s debugging and the latest and greatest concepts of UI development using PHP applications are available and you get both print and a PDF copy for the low-low price of $35 for the year of 12 issues. Don’t worry that the content would be too advanced. While some article really gets deep into the fun of PHP, there are others like the “HTML for Developers” piece in the October 2009 issue that is ideal for anyone looking to pick up PHP! One of the truly interesting pieces is the ElePHPants pictures. This is a page dedicated to folks traveling the world with their little blue PHP Elephants and snapping a candid shot in interesting places.
#3 Kevin and Jeff’s really good book – IBM i Programmers Guide to PHP
Anyone starting out with PHP on IBM i must get this book. This book was written by two guys who have excellent skills in their respective areas and a completely open mind about each other’s space. Kevin is a PHP sharpshooter who has a day job as a Technical Consultant at Zend and moonlights as a musician. Jeff is a long time IBM midranger and currently heads up iManifest and enjoys stargazing in the Southern California skies. This book covers a lot of the fundamentals of basic PHP and how it works on IBM i. Code samples and a companion website on Linked-In give you a great start with PHP. It is available from MC Press.
#2 COMMON 2010: 50 years and counting!
The annual COMMON conference is a must see for any IBM i developer, manager or administrator. The content is solid and lots of great speakers and attendees to network with. Plus a bunch of 50th anniversary activities for all to share. Staff will get a lot of good education and management needs to check out the ITEC conference where IT industry leaders get and exclusive executive experience that is second to none!. I will be there with a host of other PHP bigots talking about the latest features of IBM i, the Zend stack and much more. Not to mention the announcements about the new version of the operating system. Make your plans today and come join the fun. I will be at the Zend booth, presenting or hanging out with the CAAC members.
#1 Zend Server for IBM i
The next generation PHP stack for IBM i is currently in beta and due for GA sometime REALLY soon. This has easily been the best Christmas present I could have asked for. If you haven’t had a chance to download and play you are really missing out! There is no automated upgrade path from Zend Core/Platform to Zend Server and this implementation allows you to run parallel quite nicely. This allows existing PHP shops to continue working while testing the new stack all on the same LPAR. Enhanced performance and lots of new features like code tracing and Job Queue make this solution a must see. Plus we eliminated the Apache server inside PASE and cleaned up a lot of the administration with a single user interface. Easier implementation, administration and usage will give management and staff a lot to be thankful for this New Year. Yes, this stack will run on all supported IBM i operating systems (V5R4, i6.1 and whatever they decide to call the next one).
I hope my list helps your shop plan and enjoy 2010. I think there is a lot to chew on in there and many great places to show your staff you care by investing a little and getting a whole lot! Please let me know what is essential in your IT strategy for the New Year. Good luck in 2010 and God Bless!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The 3-year CIO vs. IBM i: PHP to the rescue!
So are you staying on the IBM i? With downturned economies, abandoned maintenance renewals, layoffs and slashed budgets I wonder if you will stick with IBM i. We have all known for years that the TCA (Total Cost of Acquisition) for IBM i is not terribly competitive while the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) is more in line with what you might pay for a real server or server farm. But the advent of server virtualization and more and more ubiquitous software in the Linux and Windows realm have made a serious dent in that philosophy. I wonder, are you staying on IBM i?
For years I have worked with the local user group in Chicago called The Omni User. Just in my tenure we have had countless speakers come from all parts of the IBM i community and geography. Folks like Alison Butterill, Al Grega, Jon Paris and Susan Gantner, Randall Munson, Larry Bolhuis and many, many more. Even I have picked up a session or two at a dinner meeting or one-day conference. But some years ago I recall a keynote at one of our annual conferences given by Dr. Frank Soltis. It was truly one of the more memorable presentations I have seen in a while. I must say I have gleaned quite a bit from his books and talks that I now know the folks there as well as my own kids! And, I rarely miss the opportunity to see him talk. One of my favorites was a COMMON opening session when he came out, placed his laptop down on the table, opened it and showed everyon in the audience the Apple logo on the front. The crowd went wild and his only response was: “of course you would expect I am going to run something reliable…”
At the Omni event, Dr. Frank was discussing the R&D group of IBM Rochester. He was talking about all the wonderful things being developed behind the scenes. All of it sounded exciting and then he made a point about Windows and Microsoft. The point he made was that IBM Rochester could not sit back and the could not sleep, that they absolutely HAD to focus on bringing new solutions to the market because Microsoft would eventually catch up. He said that Microsoft would eventually put out an OS that did not require daily reboots and weekly patches. Well, maybe he was half right. The folks at Microsoft have come out with better server software and now own the lion’s share of the server market. Dr Frank is a tremendous observer.
So I wonder, will you stay on IBM i? Has the Intel space captured you, even a little? Usually it starts out with a file server, something that is rather small and harmless. Then you discover the benefits of Active Directory and think “OK, What’s a couple more servers”. Especially when you consider how important authentication is to the organization you are told by EVERY Microsoft BP to “cluster” your AD. Then a specialty server or two, maybe even a SQL Server to satisfy the back end of a Sharepoint application. And then it begins. A user asks a developer if they can have the same data in SQL Server as they have on i5. The reasons are numerous and unnecessary for the purpose of this writing, but we have heard them all. Maybe you used DTS and moved to the new SSIS for replicating i5 data. You mused when the folks talked about how much more useful the data is here than on the i5. Then it comes, a new CIO.
I have joked around about the 3 year CIO in many presentations and writings. I have seen these individuals and they are numerous and plentiful. They are focus on a simple agenda: Year 1: Honeymoon and quick hits. Maybe they shake up the department with staff changes and a simple solution for a couple of key users in the organization. Usually loud key users are sought out at this point. During this time she is building up momentum and groupthink for the big project. Year two is the initiation of the big project. Something exciting like a new ERP would do the trick. Does the organization need a new ERP? That should depend on many things from a practical perspective. But we are not dealing with practical, here. From a functional aspect, a new ERP should be warranted when the needs of the company outweigh the capabilities of the software and a reasonable attempt by the IT department to keep up with the changes. Like a discreet manufacturer moving to process manufacturing, or something like that. But what I see more and more is the comment: “The AS/400 and the green screen are just not strategic…” In many cases I wish there was an IT police department I could call to have a restraining order put out on some of these guys. But, alas we cannot legislate stupidity.
Trevor, if you are reading, don’t send me any notes about the naming. I am just writing what I hear and see. And the 3-year CIO will never call it by its correct name. It is to their advantage to use the old name as they are trying to connote the “ancient” nature of the IBM i. It is a tumultuous ride during this second year and if all goes well, the 3 year CIO starts to prepare her resume for the next 3-year gig somewhere else. Certainly, there are variations on this where the CIO may last 4-5 years. But eventually they get bored and move onto look at a new challenge.
Can you hang on to your IBM i through the tenure of the 3-year CIO? I would guess that you wouldn’t. Primarily because the 3-year CIO is cost justifying all the new systems based upon the upgrade costs and maintenance fees of the IBM i. (TCA vs. TCO) And how many CIO's are reporting to the CFO? And what CFO wouldn’t be attracted to the smell of fresh cut costs? It’s like catnip to the tabby crawling around my feet as I write this.
Then there is the long term CIO who “gets it”. They understand the value of server consolidation. They appreciate the maintenance costs for the machine that really doesn’t need a full time administrator, in most shops. One of our customers has truly enjoyed thinking strategically. This customer went from a 3-year CIO to a more strategic CIO. The new CIO who took over from the 3-year CIO was presented with a contract to implement a very large German based ERP with a three letter acronym. This CIO wisely said “I’m not signing that without doing my own due diligence!” I love this guy, already!
The new CIO wanders down to the IT department where the news of the new ERP was causing the RPG developers to dust off the only useful Microsoft application at a time like this: Word - in preparation for the latest iteration of their respective resumes. He asks the IT guys “what’s up with this ERP project and what alternatives are there?” The CIO reiterated that the primary complaint about the existing system was the perception that it was old due to the prevalence of green screens. The IT guys looked at each other, dropped their resumes, and said “We’ve been playing around with PHP on a Linux box over there and I just heard that IBM is now supporting PHP on the i. The CIO gave the order to build and develop a pilot project.
The IT guys dug in and installed Zend Core on their System i at V5R4. In a couple of weeks they had GUI interfaces with data and charts and all kinds of demos for the CIO. Nothing earth shattering, but it was significant. The CIO was impressed and said “OK, How long to convert the whole shooting match?” The IT guys responded with ‘do you mean EVERYTHING?” The CIO nodded in the affirmative. So the IT guys headed back to the drawing board and developed an aggressive plan. A plan, by the way, that would take half the time and a fraction of the cost of the new ERP system. The IT guys not only built the plan, but they delivered the goods on time and just a little over budget (within 10 points). Try that with your ERP implementation!
The more I work with IBM i customers, the more I hear stories like these. PHP on IBM i is giving companies new hope and fresh approach to opportunities. Many of these opportunities have always been there with tactical tools and Java, CGI, etc. But PHP brings world class power within the reach of the RPG developer along with a roadmap that the CIO can fine tune to the needs of the organization. That is not to say that a new ERP might still be in order for some companies, but it does beg the question: Is your CIO on the three year track?
The moral of the story is that the new CIO should be embraced and not be feared. At least until year 2!
For years I have worked with the local user group in Chicago called The Omni User. Just in my tenure we have had countless speakers come from all parts of the IBM i community and geography. Folks like Alison Butterill, Al Grega, Jon Paris and Susan Gantner, Randall Munson, Larry Bolhuis and many, many more. Even I have picked up a session or two at a dinner meeting or one-day conference. But some years ago I recall a keynote at one of our annual conferences given by Dr. Frank Soltis. It was truly one of the more memorable presentations I have seen in a while. I must say I have gleaned quite a bit from his books and talks that I now know the folks there as well as my own kids! And, I rarely miss the opportunity to see him talk. One of my favorites was a COMMON opening session when he came out, placed his laptop down on the table, opened it and showed everyon in the audience the Apple logo on the front. The crowd went wild and his only response was: “of course you would expect I am going to run something reliable…”
At the Omni event, Dr. Frank was discussing the R&D group of IBM Rochester. He was talking about all the wonderful things being developed behind the scenes. All of it sounded exciting and then he made a point about Windows and Microsoft. The point he made was that IBM Rochester could not sit back and the could not sleep, that they absolutely HAD to focus on bringing new solutions to the market because Microsoft would eventually catch up. He said that Microsoft would eventually put out an OS that did not require daily reboots and weekly patches. Well, maybe he was half right. The folks at Microsoft have come out with better server software and now own the lion’s share of the server market. Dr Frank is a tremendous observer.
So I wonder, will you stay on IBM i? Has the Intel space captured you, even a little? Usually it starts out with a file server, something that is rather small and harmless. Then you discover the benefits of Active Directory and think “OK, What’s a couple more servers”. Especially when you consider how important authentication is to the organization you are told by EVERY Microsoft BP to “cluster” your AD. Then a specialty server or two, maybe even a SQL Server to satisfy the back end of a Sharepoint application. And then it begins. A user asks a developer if they can have the same data in SQL Server as they have on i5. The reasons are numerous and unnecessary for the purpose of this writing, but we have heard them all. Maybe you used DTS and moved to the new SSIS for replicating i5 data. You mused when the folks talked about how much more useful the data is here than on the i5. Then it comes, a new CIO.
I have joked around about the 3 year CIO in many presentations and writings. I have seen these individuals and they are numerous and plentiful. They are focus on a simple agenda: Year 1: Honeymoon and quick hits. Maybe they shake up the department with staff changes and a simple solution for a couple of key users in the organization. Usually loud key users are sought out at this point. During this time she is building up momentum and groupthink for the big project. Year two is the initiation of the big project. Something exciting like a new ERP would do the trick. Does the organization need a new ERP? That should depend on many things from a practical perspective. But we are not dealing with practical, here. From a functional aspect, a new ERP should be warranted when the needs of the company outweigh the capabilities of the software and a reasonable attempt by the IT department to keep up with the changes. Like a discreet manufacturer moving to process manufacturing, or something like that. But what I see more and more is the comment: “The AS/400 and the green screen are just not strategic…” In many cases I wish there was an IT police department I could call to have a restraining order put out on some of these guys. But, alas we cannot legislate stupidity.
Trevor, if you are reading, don’t send me any notes about the naming. I am just writing what I hear and see. And the 3-year CIO will never call it by its correct name. It is to their advantage to use the old name as they are trying to connote the “ancient” nature of the IBM i. It is a tumultuous ride during this second year and if all goes well, the 3 year CIO starts to prepare her resume for the next 3-year gig somewhere else. Certainly, there are variations on this where the CIO may last 4-5 years. But eventually they get bored and move onto look at a new challenge.
Can you hang on to your IBM i through the tenure of the 3-year CIO? I would guess that you wouldn’t. Primarily because the 3-year CIO is cost justifying all the new systems based upon the upgrade costs and maintenance fees of the IBM i. (TCA vs. TCO) And how many CIO's are reporting to the CFO? And what CFO wouldn’t be attracted to the smell of fresh cut costs? It’s like catnip to the tabby crawling around my feet as I write this.
Then there is the long term CIO who “gets it”. They understand the value of server consolidation. They appreciate the maintenance costs for the machine that really doesn’t need a full time administrator, in most shops. One of our customers has truly enjoyed thinking strategically. This customer went from a 3-year CIO to a more strategic CIO. The new CIO who took over from the 3-year CIO was presented with a contract to implement a very large German based ERP with a three letter acronym. This CIO wisely said “I’m not signing that without doing my own due diligence!” I love this guy, already!
The new CIO wanders down to the IT department where the news of the new ERP was causing the RPG developers to dust off the only useful Microsoft application at a time like this: Word - in preparation for the latest iteration of their respective resumes. He asks the IT guys “what’s up with this ERP project and what alternatives are there?” The CIO reiterated that the primary complaint about the existing system was the perception that it was old due to the prevalence of green screens. The IT guys looked at each other, dropped their resumes, and said “We’ve been playing around with PHP on a Linux box over there and I just heard that IBM is now supporting PHP on the i. The CIO gave the order to build and develop a pilot project.
The IT guys dug in and installed Zend Core on their System i at V5R4. In a couple of weeks they had GUI interfaces with data and charts and all kinds of demos for the CIO. Nothing earth shattering, but it was significant. The CIO was impressed and said “OK, How long to convert the whole shooting match?” The IT guys responded with ‘do you mean EVERYTHING?” The CIO nodded in the affirmative. So the IT guys headed back to the drawing board and developed an aggressive plan. A plan, by the way, that would take half the time and a fraction of the cost of the new ERP system. The IT guys not only built the plan, but they delivered the goods on time and just a little over budget (within 10 points). Try that with your ERP implementation!
The more I work with IBM i customers, the more I hear stories like these. PHP on IBM i is giving companies new hope and fresh approach to opportunities. Many of these opportunities have always been there with tactical tools and Java, CGI, etc. But PHP brings world class power within the reach of the RPG developer along with a roadmap that the CIO can fine tune to the needs of the organization. That is not to say that a new ERP might still be in order for some companies, but it does beg the question: Is your CIO on the three year track?
The moral of the story is that the new CIO should be embraced and not be feared. At least until year 2!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Back to school - 2009!
Those of you who know me understand that I am crazy. This of you who don’t, well, let me just say that I have five kids. ‘nuff said. But this year is especially momentous in the Pavlak household as each of the five kids is in a different school! Five schools, 2 districts various bus schedules a well organized Mom and a Dad who is just trying to keep up. It is exciting and challenging and rewarding and exhausting. But I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. Ironically, education was not such a big deal for my family when we were growing up yet my 3 siblings and I managed to figure out how to get college degrees. So let’s talk a little about education.
I got a call last night from an old friend. This friend, let’s call him Jack, was an IBM midrange programmer. I say IBM midrange programmer so as to not provoke the wrath of Trevor who might insist on correcting me . Jack is no Spring chicken. In fact, his kids are about grown and gone. But Jack has another similar aspect as to many in the IBM midrange space. Jack is out of work…since January. Jack’s only crime, specializing in the IBM midrange space. Well, that might be a bit dramatic, but you get my point.
So Jack called me up to let me know he was really jazzed about something. He was playing with Drupal on his home computer in the XAMPP stack and was in the process of migrating the stack to his new laptop. He was stunned to see the power and features in this open Source CMS and couldn’t wait to tell me about his new career path. He mentioned that getting laid off might have been the best thing to ever happen to him as he can now focus on the future. And he plans for that future to include PHP.
The reality is that I continue to hear about friends and associates getting laid off. Many times it has very little to do with the technology currently employed whether it be IBM midrange, Microsoft, open source or something else. Often the reason I am hearing is related to profitability and productivity. No one wants to admit they are not being productive. I mean, even an RPG III programmer who enhances an accounting report and turns it into a DSO for the CFO has just improved productivity. But we all need to be aware of where the bus is heading and start making plans to be on it. Retirement may be a fantasy for many in my generation as 401-k get decimated and Pension funds continue to evolve and dry up.
I am a big fan of PHP, no duh! But regardless of which technology you choose I challenge you to explore something new. The good news is that once you learn PHP you now have skills that are 100% transportable to any other platform. That is a benefit for both you and your management because new platforms are popping up all over. And some you can’t even identify like SaaS or cloud based technologies. These days the hardware and OS are becoming less and less important. Understanding the application technology allows you to plug in and communicate. Web Services is just plain huge.
So, I salute my firend Jack and wish him good luck on his new endeavor. Oh yea, I have heard of a lot of opportunities for IBM midrange folks with PHP experience. Hmmm…wonder why that is?
I got a call last night from an old friend. This friend, let’s call him Jack, was an IBM midrange programmer. I say IBM midrange programmer so as to not provoke the wrath of Trevor who might insist on correcting me . Jack is no Spring chicken. In fact, his kids are about grown and gone. But Jack has another similar aspect as to many in the IBM midrange space. Jack is out of work…since January. Jack’s only crime, specializing in the IBM midrange space. Well, that might be a bit dramatic, but you get my point.
So Jack called me up to let me know he was really jazzed about something. He was playing with Drupal on his home computer in the XAMPP stack and was in the process of migrating the stack to his new laptop. He was stunned to see the power and features in this open Source CMS and couldn’t wait to tell me about his new career path. He mentioned that getting laid off might have been the best thing to ever happen to him as he can now focus on the future. And he plans for that future to include PHP.
The reality is that I continue to hear about friends and associates getting laid off. Many times it has very little to do with the technology currently employed whether it be IBM midrange, Microsoft, open source or something else. Often the reason I am hearing is related to profitability and productivity. No one wants to admit they are not being productive. I mean, even an RPG III programmer who enhances an accounting report and turns it into a DSO for the CFO has just improved productivity. But we all need to be aware of where the bus is heading and start making plans to be on it. Retirement may be a fantasy for many in my generation as 401-k get decimated and Pension funds continue to evolve and dry up.
I am a big fan of PHP, no duh! But regardless of which technology you choose I challenge you to explore something new. The good news is that once you learn PHP you now have skills that are 100% transportable to any other platform. That is a benefit for both you and your management because new platforms are popping up all over. And some you can’t even identify like SaaS or cloud based technologies. These days the hardware and OS are becoming less and less important. Understanding the application technology allows you to plug in and communicate. Web Services is just plain huge.
So, I salute my firend Jack and wish him good luck on his new endeavor. Oh yea, I have heard of a lot of opportunities for IBM midrange folks with PHP experience. Hmmm…wonder why that is?
Monday, July 27, 2009
Zend Platform for Development too?
Folks in the i5 community love to know if software companies eat their own dog food. The unequivocal answer to that question for me is a hearty and resounding YES!!!
I can’t tell you the number of times I have written a piece of code that looks perfectly fine but still refuses to execute. Then I find the missing semicolon or non-aligned curly brace. Jumping between COBOL, RPG, PHP and CL I am forever leaving out the extra equal sign in my comparison operators! I have given up blaming the compiler years ago, although I did find a bug in a beta CL API last year.
So I’m tooling along testing a web services Proof of Concept for a prospective customer and I can’t seem to see what the issue is the hunk of code. One of our outstanding PS guys tossed it together in less than an hour on his Linux box and I needed to get it running on the i5. Once I updated the version of Zend Framework on the development LPAR(check in to DevZone for more details) I started to get some really meaningful error messages. I knocked through a couple of simple configuration issues and was off the to the races! What I like most about Zend Platform is the fact that I do not need to go chasing through logs to get the important information and help me along the way. With Zend Platform I have a browser based interface that I an leave up and toggle to while testing my PHP code. A quick F5 to refresh the page and I see the most recent error. No digging, no tailing and no SSH to find the file that should contain the error. This feature of Zend Platform is referred to as Platform Intelligence.
Platform Intelligence provides a huge advantage when doing development. I wouldn’t work without it now. But for production applications it comes in handy too. It basically acts like the QSYSOPR message queue for your PHP applications. So while users are cranking away on your WEB applications, Platform is collecting information about different errors and warnings on problems with PHP code through poor performing database calls. The information stays around for as long as you need it. Some shops I work with check the Zend Platform GUI Interface once or twice a day while other shops are wired into the errors via the email notification feature.
The i5 LPAR I maintain is used by several folks around the world for presentations and such. I usually use the Platform interface while I am developing code for presentations and I also check now and then to see what the other SE’s might be doing. With very little effort I can see the issues and help them out. This process can be interesting as many of these folks speak a variety of languages.
Developing applications these days is all about productivity. So whatever you have in your tool bag that can increase your productivity makes you a more valuable resource. At the end of the day, that’s a good chunk of what matters!
I can’t tell you the number of times I have written a piece of code that looks perfectly fine but still refuses to execute. Then I find the missing semicolon or non-aligned curly brace. Jumping between COBOL, RPG, PHP and CL I am forever leaving out the extra equal sign in my comparison operators! I have given up blaming the compiler years ago, although I did find a bug in a beta CL API last year.
So I’m tooling along testing a web services Proof of Concept for a prospective customer and I can’t seem to see what the issue is the hunk of code. One of our outstanding PS guys tossed it together in less than an hour on his Linux box and I needed to get it running on the i5. Once I updated the version of Zend Framework on the development LPAR(check in to DevZone for more details) I started to get some really meaningful error messages. I knocked through a couple of simple configuration issues and was off the to the races! What I like most about Zend Platform is the fact that I do not need to go chasing through logs to get the important information and help me along the way. With Zend Platform I have a browser based interface that I an leave up and toggle to while testing my PHP code. A quick F5 to refresh the page and I see the most recent error. No digging, no tailing and no SSH to find the file that should contain the error. This feature of Zend Platform is referred to as Platform Intelligence.
Platform Intelligence provides a huge advantage when doing development. I wouldn’t work without it now. But for production applications it comes in handy too. It basically acts like the QSYSOPR message queue for your PHP applications. So while users are cranking away on your WEB applications, Platform is collecting information about different errors and warnings on problems with PHP code through poor performing database calls. The information stays around for as long as you need it. Some shops I work with check the Zend Platform GUI Interface once or twice a day while other shops are wired into the errors via the email notification feature.
The i5 LPAR I maintain is used by several folks around the world for presentations and such. I usually use the Platform interface while I am developing code for presentations and I also check now and then to see what the other SE’s might be doing. With very little effort I can see the issues and help them out. This process can be interesting as many of these folks speak a variety of languages.
Developing applications these days is all about productivity. So whatever you have in your tool bag that can increase your productivity makes you a more valuable resource. At the end of the day, that’s a good chunk of what matters!
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