Resources for IBMi newbies
Here at BGL Tech, RPG is part of our DNA. Our entire back-end infrastructure (on which we house everything from our data, to our price quotes, to our sales and insurance claims) lives on an extensive in-house platform built in RPG on the IBMi.
For new developers coming into the world of RPG, it can be quite hard to find resources online unless you know exactly what you’re looking for. With a language that’s been around as long as RPG has, and that’s been through so many transformations, finding current information and examples can sometimes be quite hard and leave you feeling a bit lost.
So whether you are brand new to programming on the IBMi or are looking to refresh your knowledge, here are some of the best resources I’ve found that have helped me through my first two (and a bit) years of coding in ILE RPG.
Important names
In the IBMi community, there are a few names you should look for as you scour the various forums and articles. No matter where you look for information on RPG, you’re bound to come across at least one of these people — to say they know their stuff is a major understatement, so these are the people you should definitely be paying attention to:
- Susan Gantner: The Queen of RDi. Specialising in use of RDi and modern development techniques in RPG, Susan often writes blogs and articles about current developments in RDi.
- Jon Paris: A leader in pushing for complete adoption of all free-format RPG, Jon is a key player in the development of the modern RPG language (among others) and in porting other languages like Python and Ruby to the IBMi.
- Barbara Morris: A lead developer for the RPG compilers at IBM, Barbara has a vast knowledge of all things RPG and can often be found solving programming conundrums on RPG forums like Code400.
- Scott Klement: Scott provides loads of great, free educational materials on his website and blog (Scott’s iLand). Like Barbara Morris, Scott is often seen on forums offering a helping hand to anyone who needs it.
Websites
There are a number of websites out there that provide useful resources to support you on your journey with IBMi:
- code400.com: A great forum that always has people online ready to answer questions (many of which are real heavyweights in the RPG world, like the people mentioned above). Even if you don’t have anything to ask, it’s interesting to read the posts to see the variety of solutions ventured for the same problem.
- IBMSystemsMag: A great way to keep up with current IBMi/RPG news. The publication features regular blogs from IBMi gurus and also has a really interesting podcast series called ‘iTalk with Tuohy’, in which Paul Tuohy talks to RPGLE/IBMi experts about a wide range of topics.
- MCPressOnline: This has a really fantastic series of articles under the ‘RPG Academy’ tag, which covers many aspects of RPG programming, with a heavy focus on modern programming techniques and modernisation in the RPG community.
- RPGPGM.com: This site frequently publishes blogs on various RPG, CL, SQL and XML programming techniques, in modern fully free ILE RPG.
- Works of Barry: This site has some great tutorials if you’re ever in need of a quick refresher. It covers things such as basic programme creation, RPG data types, etc.
Books
For those of you who like a more traditional learning experience, there’s many textbooks out there that are great to refer to:
- Programming in ILE RPG 5th Edition (or higher) by Bryan Meyers and Jim Buck: This is the definitive book on modern RPG programming. It covers anything you could possibly want to know about RPGLE!
- Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C. Martin: Not specifically for RPG programmers, but I highly recommend this book for software engineers writing in any language. Robert C. Martin provides clear and detailed advice on the best practices to produce clean, clear and concise code.
That about covers it! These should give you all the basics you need to keep up to scratch and up to date on RPG! 😁
