RPG 101 - Tarting up the old fashioned AS400 RPG to iSERIES RPGLE Hello World Example

RPG 101 Ep2: Tarting Up the Old-Fashioned AS400 RPG to iSeries RPGLE

In this second episode of the RPG 101 series, we take our humble “Hello World” RPG/400 program and give it a glow-up—transforming it into a cleaner, more modern RPGLE version. This lesson bridges the gap between legacy fixed-format RPG and the structured clarity of RPGLE, showing you how to upgrade your code without losing its soul.

What You’ll Learn

• How to convert a basic RPG/400 program into RPGLE format

• Tips for navigating the PDM development environment

• Handy command line tricks for compiling and testing RPGLE code

• Why RPGLE is a more maintainable and readable evolution of classic RPG

Why It Matters

Modernizing legacy RPG code is a critical skill for IBM i developers. This lesson shows how even the simplest programs benefit from RPGLE’s free-form syntax and modular structure making your code easier to read, debug, and extend.