In a world where build automation is a mystical art, one brave warrior dares to conquer the realm of “RULES.mk” config files with Visual Studio Code and IBM i. Join us on this thrilling adventure! Step 1: Prepare for Battle (Install the Necessary Extensions) Gather your trusty steed (Visual Studio Code) and equip it with

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I was recording a VSCODE for IBM i video this morning, talking about the different ways of storing our RPGLE code as a bound RPGLE program, or as separate modules which are then bound into a program with the CRTPGM command. So, I accidentally wrote this description of OPM vs ILE and realized that it

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If you have read any of my previous blogs about IBM i Programming, the chances are, you know I’m becoming a bit of a VS-Code fanboy… or maybe Fanman… well… probably fangeezer is most accurate. Over the last couple of months, we’ve seen some really neat updates to the Code for IBM i and other

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Mastering Git on the IBM i: It’s not as hard as you might think! As an IBM i developer, you’re likely familiar with the traditional source control tools available on the platform, such as PDM, SEU and Third party tools like TURNOVER, ALDON, etc. While these tools have served the IBM i community well, the

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Why should I learn about webservers on the IBM i System? Do you ever lay in bed asking yourself that question? I used to. But, now I know how to create various types of webservers, so instead I lay in bed asking myself more annoying questions like “Why is my webservice not able to read

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Come with me while I go on a journey of discovery setting sail from the land of Legacy AS400 coding techniques, sailing over the horizon in search of the future of IBM i Coding Techniques. The mission is to migrate away from green screen, also known as command line interface, and leave the old trusty

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Converting an old Physical File (PF) to a modern SQL table can significantly enhance your database’s functionality and performance. Here are the general steps to achieve this: Here’s a simple example of how you might convert a PF to an SQL table: Creating SQL TABLES is easy – so How do we convert old DDS

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A while ago, I got this terrific email from a subscriber. I will call him “Nuno”. Not because that’s a pseudonym, but because that’s his name. Hi Nuno! So, lightly paraphrased this is what Nuno said to me: It warms my heart to get emails like this 🙂 I’ve been writing blogs on here for

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In our clan of gray haired AS400 and iSERIES programmers, we all have roots in the good old RPG LOGIC CYCLE. We have one foot in the old world of huge programs with tens of thousands of lines written in a very start-middle-end style, often with many subroutines. The other foot is in the modern

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SPOILER ALERT: It is NOT! The IBM AS400 was a groundbreaking computer system. First released in 1988 it quickly became the business system of choice for millions of companies all over the world. The AS400 was released to a pre-internet civilization, it grew and evolved as technology was introduced through the eighties, nineties and into

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What is an IBM i PATH? In PASE (Portable Application Solutions Environment), $PATH is an environment variable that stores a list of directories where the system searches for executable files, such as commands and programs. The PATH is like a *LIBL for open source. Just like library lists, the PATH setting only exists during our

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What is an RPG language HELLO WORLD program? A “Hello, World!” program is a simple computer program that outputs or displays the iconic phrase “Hello, World!” to a user. This humble program serves as a fundamental introduction to programming languages and illustrates their basic syntax. Let’s explore this tradition further: The “Hello, World!” program typically

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