Windows IBM IDE : Rational Developer for IBM i (RDi)
What is RDi?
An integrated development environment (IDE) built on the Eclipse platform, designed for creating and maintaining applications on IBM i systems.
Pointy heads at IBM
This basically means Rational Developer for IBM i (commonly known as RDi) is IBM’s flagship integrated development environment for the IBM i platform.
I often say things like “PDM and SEU are old and Rational Developer for i is a modern tool for RPG and COBOL development” because it's true.
With the exception of a few leading-edge IBM i developers, RDi is not being universally accepted by the technical IBM i community.
Why?
I suspect because it's very expensive (IMHO of course) and those software developers that can afford it enjoy the productivity improvements they get from a graphical and modern IDE, particularly compared to older greenscreen coding environments like PDM and SEU.
What is RDi and Why use RDi?
The short answer to both these questions can be summarized as:
- Improve developer productivity
- Common development tools platform
- Improve developers skills