Customer Reviews

Java for RPG Programmers

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

My library has five books on Java, but this is the one I would have purchased first if it had been available earlier. The authors actually teach you two languages - ILE RPG and Java, bringing RPG III old hands like myself up to speed with the modular capabilities of ILE, then showing how those concepts are implemented in Java. The chapter on exception handing (aka error messaging) shows how closely Java matches what we have taken for granted for years (which really shows how advanced the original System/38 was!); the chapter on multi-threading explains a subject that is pretty foreign to most of us RPG folks.

The only weakness is a thin treatment of how to actually implement the Java environment, but visits to the annotated IBM websites (and Redbooks) will fill this gap. You should also plan on becoming familiar with the Integrated File System root "/" directory, which is where your Java classes will reside.

If your shop is upgrading to V4R2, the Java Virtual Machine and related Toolkits are free and included on the CDROM, but must be explicitly loaded. IBM is committed to making Java a success on the AS/400, and if you want to catch the wave, this book is your surfboard!

This book does what it was written to do: provide RPG programmers with an introduction to Java by comparing and contrasting language features with RPG.

After the reader is finished with this book, s/he should proceed to the Sun tutorial in order to gain a better understanding of the Java language.

If you are looking for a book to give you a solid base in Java with practical examples, this is not for you. Although the book does compare Java to RPG (ILE), the explanations on Object Oriented concepts are poor, as are the working examples. Without this clear instruction you will find picking up the Java language difficult if you have never done any OO work before. Get the Java Tutorial from Sun. It's clearer, more in depth, and it's free.

This is a pretty good book for RPGIV programmers wanting to migrate to Java. It compares all the functions of Java to RPGIV in a way that is very understanding to non-object-oriented programmers. It's a much better book than the past Java books i've read (which are intended for university students familiar with C++).

What this book does lack however are self-excercises. It's merely a good reference book to learning the basics of Java. The authors do a good job of explaining the necessary components. This book also lacks a lot of 'interactive programming' samples other books offer. There were hardly any 'GUI' programming to practice on your home PC...mostly command line tests they show you. It's not a bad book overall.

I work for a company where all of the programmers will need to know Java. Most of us have very different backgrounds and write in different languages. I keep getting asked, "is that a good book"? My answer is "Yes, if you are an RPG programmer, this is a very good book." It should be the first book that an RPG programmer reads about Java. I fear that if you don't read this book or something like it, you may get frustrated with a book written for people that are assumed to have an OO background. Read this book, then read something on OO in general. I don't think that anyone should expect this to be the only book that they will ever need on the subject of Java and the authors make that clear. The book is full of useful references to additional material.