Brian Kelly’s Technical Books Follow:!

 

 

This Book first book (immediately) below is Kelly’s newest technical book. His main focus today is patriotic Books. However, he is still asked to speak about his AS/400 (IBM i) Platform books... Any purchase of the books below are most appreciated and they help finance Brian’s important work.

 

Lets Go Publish! produces books from various authors including the complete works of   Brian W. Kelly. At the present time, Mr. Kelly's books are our primary focus.  If you have an interest in writing a book for Lets Go Publish!  feel free to send us a note at info@letsgopublish.com.

 

Since 1982, with the introduction of the popular Ballinger / Harper Collins book titled The Personal Computer Buyers Guide, written along with his best friend, Dennis J. Grimes, Brian W. Kelly has written one hundred eighty-two books and many technical articles hosted by IT Jungle,  MC Press, News/400, and other outlets from the past.   

 

In 2008, Kelly wrote the groundbreaking book titled Taxation Without Representation, which was the first book in the new millenium to compare the acts of our National Legislative Body (Our Honorable Lot) as akin to the colonists plight in the late 1700's, which prompted the Boston Tea Party and slogans such as "No Taxation Without Representation!!!." This book available on amazon.com/author/brianwkelly is in its fourth edition in 2018.

 

Taxation Without Representation (edition I and Edition II) is written by a normal human being—Brian W. Kelly, and it is published by a very small publishing house, though it is available at AMAZON.COM and www.bookhawkers.com. For years the book had been available at  IT Jungle and MC Press.

 

It helps to note that its title, not just a few key words within the book, actually is Taxation Without Representation,  subtitled, "Can the U.S. Avoid Another Boston Tea Party?"  And, so, you can understand why Brian began writing for the patriotic book readers and has not written as many tech books as in the past.

 

Taxation Without Representation by the way provides a full copy of the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights and other founding documents in its appendices.

 

If you want to buy any Brian W. Kelly book, please go to the amazon.com/author/brianwkelly page. When Amazon or Barnes & Noble sell books for me, since the processing is done by Amazon, it is always done right.

 

We are working with a new company that is not up yet called WWW.Booksnippers.com. It is being set up as we dialogue to be able to give chapters of books away as well as make book chapters in popular LGP books available for downloading as eBooks and eChapters

 

 Here is Kelly’s newest  tech book from LGP:

 

These books have been redone and retitled for both AS/400 and IBMi. They sell better today than when originally written

 

The IBM I RPG and RPGIV Tutorial & Lab Exercises!  

 http://www.brianwkelly.com/images/RPGTutorial.JPG

Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

A Combination Tutorial and Lab Book Designed for IBM i RPG & RPGIV based Application Development

 

Finally, there is an affordable RPG and RPGIV tutorial for System i RPG & RPGIV programming. It is much less expensive than other available self-study packages because it was built first to be a lab guide. It is designed to help students learn RPG without going broke.

 

Additionally, this book is designed to be used by Colleges and Universities as an RPG/RPGIV course Lab book for RPG. The book is packaged to be used with an IBM i library designed to make learning as easy as possible. The book also has an optional set of “talking” PowerPoint slide presentations that are based on the popular System i Pocket RPG & RPGIV Guide (text book). These slides can be an effective lecture series when used with or without a Moodle CMS. Besides all that there is a sample syllabus as well as optional quizzesto make the learning environment complete.

 

In addition to the 1-2-3 type tutorial and lab exercises in the tutorial/lab guide, it also provides lecture material that not only helps you learn the language, the material helps you get your labs done right - screens designed, programs compiled, programs executed, and output examined.

 

All IBM i Lab objects are included in the downloadable material standard with this book package. The Labs are well done and well documented and they are built so that you can complete them successfully by visualizing the solution. Since nobody likes to key programs from scratch, the lab exercises are already typed with enough important material redacted to provide painless learning. You learn programming rather than typing. The capstone lab is almost 500 statements of RPGIV learning. By the time you finish the last lab, you will not be a better typist but you will have learned RPG / RPGIV.

 

There are many RPG books and expensive self studies but there has never been an RPG tutorial/lab guide as affordable and as well-done as this. You won’t want to put down this comprehensive guide to learning IBM i RPG/RPGIV now that you’ve got your hands on it. Considering the age of RPG, this book is almost 50 years overdue. In today’s IT landscape, most IBM i System i shops support both RPG and ILE RPG. Besides its easy-to read down-home writing style, the major benefit of this book is that it is built to be a learning tool and thus it can help anyone whose mission it is to educate/train new RPG & ILERPG (RPGIV) programmers. Programmers are responsible for maintaining andextending the RPG programs that run businesses across the world.

 

Programming in RPG helps get business applications running sooner. Using this tutorial/lab guide help students, neophyte and novices learn the language sooner. For those with a non-IBM i IT background, this book has enough exercises to help you qualify for an entry level position upon faithful

completion.

 

It’s in there...

 

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The IBM I Pocket RPG & RPGIV Guide

 

Order this book -- Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

This book is a combination learn-by-example and reference guide for IBM I RPG & RPGIV based Application Development. Finally, there is a Pocket Developer's Guide for IBM I RPG & RPGIV programming. Yes, it is in big pocket guide form and it is tutorial in nature. This guide is also packed with reference material so you do not have to switch to a new book once you learn the language.

 

For example, there is all the reference help you need to be able to use every op-code in RPG/400 and RPGIV as well as every BIF that you may ever need to use. And the new RPGIV keywords and the exclusive 'D' Spec?... Yep! It's got that too! Moreover, instead of weighing you down with pounds of paper, its convenient size will encourage you to "take it along for the ride" rather than leaving it behind and having to guess.

 

There are lots of RPG books but there has never been an RPG book like this. Instead of arguing about the merits of RPG/400, the cycle, and the modern feel of ILERPG, this book teaches it all. It is almost 50 years overdue. In today's IT landscape, most IBM I shops support both RPG and ILE RPG. Besides its down-home writing style, the major benefit of this book is that it is built to be an essential text for anyone charged with the responsibility of maintaining and extending RPG code at all levels.

 

And that means a new approach to the historical cycle, RPG/400 operations from database to subfiles, basic and advanced RPGIV, Eval and extended Factor 2 expressions, prototypes and procedures, free form RPG and, of course embedded SQL. It's all in there.

 

Author Brian Kelly designed this book to show you how to use RPG by working with rich examples that you'll use over and over again. Additionally, for each example, there is the exact explanation you need to get a head start on being an RPG guru. This is the first RPG book to hand to your new developers and veterans alike

 

Table of Contents by Chapter

 

Chapter 1  Introduction to the RPG Language...................................... 1

Chapter 2  The History of the RPG Language........................................ 9

Chapter 3  Understanding the RPG Fixed Logic Cycle..................... 25

Chapter 4  Developing RPG Applications............................................. 47

Chapter 5  Your First RPG Program....................................................... 97

Chapter 6  Specifics of RPG Coding H Spec– by  Example.......... 107

Chapter 7  Specifics of RPG Coding F,L spec by  Example.......... 127

Chapter 8  Specifics of RPG Coding  I spec by Example............... 161

 

Chapter 9  Specifics of RPG– Strucs /Constants Example........... 203

Chapter 10  Specifics of RPG Coding– C spec  by Example......... 219

Chapter 11  Specifics of RPG Coding– O spec  by Example........ 247

Chapter 12  Decoding and Debugging RPG Programs................... 277

Chapter 13  Introduction to RPGIV...................................................... 295

Chapter 14  RPG (/400) Operations..................................................... 369

Chapter 15  RPGIV Operations and Built-In Functions................ 419

Chapter 16  RPG Arrays and Pgmng  Structures (E spec)............. 467

Chapter 17  RPG Data Structures........................................................... 515

Chapter 18  String Coding In RPG........................................................ 549

Chapter 19  RPG/400 & RPGIV Structured Programming.......... 619

Chapter 20  Interactive RPG Programming........................................ 645

Chapter 21  RPG Subfile Programming............................................... 693

Chapter 22  RPG DBe & Inter-Program Ops/ Examples............. 743

Chapter 23  Case Study Part I  RPG Operations in Action............ 775

Chapter 24  Case Study Part II RPG Operations in Action........... 823

Chapter 25  ILE & Static Binding........................................................... 855

Chapter 26  RPGIV Procedures and Functions................................. 875

Chapter 27  Free Format RPG /FREE................................................ 907

Chapter 28  Using Embedded SQL in RPG Programs.................... 919

Index ............................................................................................................... 933

 

This is the best book on RPG and RPGIV available today!

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Chip Wars is interesting reading for the technical and non-technical alike:

 

Chip Wars

Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

The story of the ongoing war between Intel and AMD and the upcoming was between Intel and IBM. This book may cause you to buy or sell somebody’s stock.   . www.bookhawkers.com

 

Brian Kelly a former Senior IBM Systems Engineer wrote many technical books and then as he got older began to write patriotic books to help America with it struggles with communism and socialism. Mr. Kelly would be pleased to have you make a request about finding a book not on the commercial sites since the three tech sites, IT Jungle, MC Press, and News/400, aka 29th Street Press, aka Network/400. The last source with all the aka’s appears not available since there are no hits. All three of the former distributors of Brian’s books have either gotten out of the business or have chosen to distribute only those titles from their stable of authors. As an independent author, Kelly did not qualify.

 

IT Jungle was www.itjungle.com was the best source for information but they too were forced for business reasons to not sell books. Thus, Mr. Kelly’s books are no longer available at this prestigious site.

 

All is not lost, however. Now, you may go to www.bookhakers.com, and www. checkoutking.com to get some or all of Brian Kelly’s technical and or patriotic books.

 

When you do not find what you want it more than likely is still available. Write to info@letsgopublish.com and we will do our best to make it available to you.

 

Kelly says the reason he never sold his own books is because he liked writing books a lot more than selling them.  Now, Mr. Kelly’s own company. Lets Go Publish! www.letsgopublish.com is pleased to offer all of the Kelly Collection. Most of them are on www.bookhawkers.com

 

Thank you for your interest.

 

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The All Everything Operating System

Lets Go Publish books written by Brian W. Kelly are available at  Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

Is the “Best Deal In Town,” the best deal?

http://www.brianwkelly.com/images/alleverything.JPG


Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

The All-Everything Operating System

Book Description:
Sometimes the best deal in town is a bona fide steal and you’re the one robbed. Any “low cost” server that fails more often than its equally low business value would justify its worth no more than a bushel of pencils. The deceptive allure of low pricing has played bandit in more than a few episodes of server pillaging.

Fortunately, cost is no longer the paramount factor, now displaced by business value and resiliency. Small and large businesses alike are fed up with their systems’ chronic unavailability. There no longer exists the luxury of indulging the whims and caprices of every unresponsive system or lingering down situation.

 

Resiliency is the new paradigm. The new business world operates in an exponentially more real time fashion. Transactions and information flow with the currents of broadband. Transactions execute immediately. Tolerance for downtime has dissipated. What can a business, of any size, use to stay afloat? The all-everything operating system, IBM i, is the best answer, short of a pencil.

 

Trust the Casinos, who currently use IBM i. Any doubts of their pressing need for systems reliability?

In IBM i, the company has made the finest, most architecturally elegant, most usable, most productive, most affordable, and least frustrating operating system of all time. Its IBM Power System, driven by IBM i, is a “mainframe for the masses” because it can be as large and big as a mainframe but it also fits just as effectively into a small business. It’s highly secure, productive, granular, and affordable and eschews the operational impediments that would diminish revenue, regulatory compliance, and corporate reputation. The all-everything operating system is designed to resist viruses and run smoothly at all times. Numerous customer testimonials aver that and much more.

This book walks you through the story of this unique operating system from its inception until today. It presents its underlying superiority, its rapid customer acceptance, development history, and its probable future. Inside, its unique architecture and interactions are discussed in easily accessible layman’s terms. Upon finishing this book, you will understand why IBM is proud to have built the finest operating system in the universe and why it deserves the name, “all-everything” operating system. Its manifold improvements and value implications are condensed here in a single collection of pages.

With a Foreword by Dr. Frank G. Soltis, IBM i Chief Scientist

 

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The All Everything Machine

 

Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

alleverythingmachine.JPG 

 

Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

The All-Everything Machine is all about IBM's best computer product. You will learn how this "secret" stealth-level unit from IBM Rochester has more advanced computer science notions built-in than even the most famous advanced computer research projects of the day including guru Jonathan Shapiro's EROS and its latter day incarnations. 

 

LGP publishes some hard nosed factual books and we also publish some very nice technical books for your learning enjoyment.

 

There is no better kept secret in the computer industry than the new IBM Power Computers running the IBM I Operating System. Another secret of which most modern computerists are unaware is that IBM makes the finest, most architecturally elegant, most usable, most productive, and most affordable computer system of all time. That system, again, is officially known as the IBM I for Power Systems.  As one would speculate correctly, it is the IBM Power System running the latest version of the IBM i operating system.  I like to say it is the all-everything system running the all-everything operating system.

 

This hardware / software phenomenon is really the all-everything machine. Though it has had numerous recent rebirths with each release of the hardware and the operating system, its advanced underpinnings go back to IBM advanced research projects from over 40 years ago. That's an awful long time for any company to keep such a secret, but my speculation is that at some point in the future, IBM will opt to divulge its secret and begin to make money for its stockholders on such a huge investment in technology.

 

Not only has IBM kept the secret, but with the all-everything machine, it has kept the lead. That is noteworthy but not quite as noteworthy as the fact that the machine architecture that was conceived and delivered 30 years ago is still the best that anybody has ever built. Using a 40-year-old "nobody else can afford to build one" architecture, IBM continues its technology lead by far compared with all the other machines of today, including the mainframe.

 

One would have to conclude that IBM is 40 years ahead of its competition and that's before you factor in that during the 40 years since its conception, IBM has not stood still. Each and every year, more and more capability and facility has been built into the all-everything machine. Now, I am not suggesting that the all-everything machine is 60 years ahead of the competition, but that is where the math logically takes you.

 

If I had never worked with other computers--mainframes, 1130s, System/360 Model 20s, Unix boxes, PCs, and so forth--I probably would not have appreciated what a solid system the Power Server family has been right from the start. The Rochester, Minnesota-built small business computer line from which the Power Sserver with IBM I OS was spawned was unusually easy to work with. In every other early computer platform, there were cryptic codes to decipher and continual puzzles to solve just to get the machine turned on. Programming was and still largely is even worse.

 

Of them all, at least before I worked with Unix, I felt that the mainframe was the most cryptic of the cryptic. Technicians carried special green cards with codes and translations galore in order to program properly on a mainframe. At the time I learned it, I was convinced that the mainframe had been slapped together by bit-head engineers who expected just bit-head engineers to work with it. Real people need not apply. Even today, I have great respect for the technical acumen of the professionals who know the mainframe.

 

When IBM introduced the first ancestor of today's Power Server with IBMi OS as the System/3 in 1969, it was remarkable. It was as if IBM had sent all the geeks home that day. There were no strange codes that were indecipherable. No IBM green "HEX" card was needed. Programming the System/3 was almost as easy as speaking in English. Maybe not that easy; but it was easy. IBM had succeeded in using high tech engineers to build a system for regular people. I don't know how they did it, but they did.

 

It was just a start, but it was a good start. From that moment on, the Rochester style of computing became contagious. Rochester wares were the most popular computers in small businesses for decades. Each and every Rochester computer was built on the principle of large system function with small business system ease of use. Each model was substantially better than the preceding machine and IBM business customers just gobbled them up and their businesses grew unimpeded by technology and reboots.

 

Today, the IBM I for Power Systems total machine is positioned to be sold in small businesses, medium businesses and even up to the largest businesses in the world. As a family of computers, with various capacities and costs, the all-everything machine  handles workloads from the size of just bigger than Mom and Pop organizations to the Fortune 500. IBM has recently labeled this complex  a "mainframe for the masses" because it gets as big as a mainframe but it can be used effectively by a small business.

 

This book walks you through the story of this powerful system from the very beginning until today 2005. To read about IBM I technology after 2005, feel free to look up The All-Everything Operating System which chronicles the IBM i Operating System after it was joined with the IBM Power Systems that can also run Unix and Linux.

 

In addition to telling a powerful, compelling story, the book describes in layman's terms the technology and computer architecture innovations that are part of every system combination. When you finish this book, you will understand why IBM is proud to have built the finest computer system in the world, and you may just find a place for a particular size one of these rascals in your own business.

 

For the most part, this book reads as a series of 20 essays. Each of 20 chapters is built as a short story unto itself, with the sum of the chapters telling the story of the all-everything machine. For the most part, you can pick up any chapter and read it without having to read a prior chapter. However, you may want to read the early chapters first to get a perspective on what the Power Systems running IBM I are all about and their relevance in IBM history.

 

This book presents the IBM all-everything machine, its underlying superiority, its rapid customer acceptance, the IBM development history, and the IBM all-everything machine's probable future. This is not meant to be a technical book at a detailed level. It is written for those who have some or little technical background, who may know lots or nothing about an eServer i5 machine or its predecessors. However, there are a few chapters in which I do get just a little bit technical, hoping that I can show the reader in reasonably simple terms how the i5 is a special machine with a long and successful tradition.

 

When you finish reading this book, regardless of your technical competency, you will have a good idea of a number of unique computer science architectural attributes from which any computer system, from any vendor, can benefit. You will also understand how those attributes can help any company, such as yours, preserve its software investment and permit the upgrading of hardware and software without forcing a rewrite or a re-build, or a re-purchase. You will learn that not only has no other computer company, of software or hardware heritage, ever created a machine with all of these advanced architectural attributes, no computer company has yet to be able to adopt even one of these powerful notions into their computer servers of today.

 

This book is written, then, to teach you what is unique about the All-Everything Machine, and why the parts that are unique, are also good, not bad; and why you should demand these facilities in any machine you ever choose to use for your business. I believe that the computer system (server) actually does make a difference in the overall value of IT to your business, and there is no system that has ever been made that delivers value better than the all-everything machine. In this book, you will learn why!

 

Note: You can order The All-Everything Machine and other Lets Go Publish! Books through www.bookhawkers.com

 

When he wrote this book, this was the biography used for Brian W. Kelly as a staff writer for IT Jungle (www.itjungle.com)

 

Brian Kelly retired as a 30-year IBM Midrange SE in 1999, having cut his eye teeth in 1969 on the System/3 and later with CCP. While with IBM, he was also a Certified Instructor and a Mid-Atlantic Area Designated Specialist. Kelly takes pride in having announced the AS/400 at Marywood University in June, 1988. When IBM began to move its sales and support to Business Partners, he formed Kelly Consulting in 1992 as an IT education and consulting firm. Kelly developed numerous AS/400 professional courses over the years that range from soup to nuts. He has written dozens of books and numerous magazine articles and about current IT topics; he has also developed and taught a number of college courses and is currently an adjunct member of the graduate faculty at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he also serves as iSeries technical advisor to the IT faculty.

 

Page down to see more technical books:

 

 

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Our most controversial book!

Can the AS/400 Survive IBM? 

 

You tell me!

 

canas400surviveIBMfrontcover.JPG

 

 

Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

Book Excerpt: 'Can the AS/400 Survive IBM?'

by Brian Kelly

 

This note is from IT Jungle. Feel free to visit their site at www.itjungle.com. This article was published in May 2004 and was available at  http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh100404-story04.html

 

Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

Editor's Note: Brian Kelly, a well-known speaker and consultant in the OS/400 market, launched a book in May, 2004 called Can the AS/400 Survive IBM?. This book pulls no punches about the history of the OS/400 platform and the things that Kelly feels IBM needed to do back then to rejuvenate the platform. A message is only as useful as the breadth of its audience, and shortly after its publishing, Kelly gave IT Jungle (this newsletter)  permission to excerpt one of the chapters of the book to stir up the debate over what IBM should do. Here is "Chapter 32, Suggestions for Improvement" from Can the AS/400 Survive IBM?

You can get a sense of what is needed in the AS/400 line of computers by reading this excerpt.

 

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Chapter 32

 

At this point in the book, Can the AS/400 Survive IBM? it is no secret that IBM's biggest AS/400 problem is that it fails to market the machine. The company has restructured its business as a services and software supplier, and that is at the heart of its problem. Hardware, including the AS/400 does not count for much anymore. Some of us think that a little care and feeding and marketing could have and could still help that. If you take a trip to IBM's main Web site, www.ibm.com, it is difficult to find anything about its hardware products, but there sure is a lot about solutions. Though solutions may include hardware, the primary ingredients are software and tailoring services.

 

"Solutions" is a euphemism for the things that IBM thinks customers buy when they are shopping for a computer system. IBM thinks it sells solutions in today's world. As strange as it may be, the IBM Company does not sell application solutions software. It is purposely not in that marketplace. It is not in that business. So, why would solutions be important?

 

IBM sells hardware, middleware, and services. The company has a dotted line relationship to its independent Business Partners and it depends on their good will as to whether IBM hardware is included in their partners' software solution.

 

IBM would like to think that its Business Partners propose its products and only its products; however, this is not the case. I have been in a number of sales situations where these "loyal;" AS/400 solutions providers will gladly switch to a Unix or Windows solution if the customer balks at the price of an AS/400. They say "it is the same software, why not run it on the least expensive machine." The moral is that just like the Computerland stores of yesteryear, IBM's Business Partners are not in business for IBM's benefit; they do not sell just IBM; and they are quite independent.

 

IBM loves to sell all kinds of services, as you would see from a trip to its Web site. Since most of IBM's business is services and software, the company has apparently decided that hardware is now in the drag-along category. Years ago, IBM would sell hardware as a solution. Software products and services were the drag-along business. Now it is completely the opposite.

 

Though IBM still [2004] makes about $30 billion in hardware, until this year, the number has been dropping. Right now, its $30 billion hardware business is still integral to the company's success. But, in the long term, as services and software revenues climb, hardware will have less and less of an impact. The hardware business has become less important to IBM and the company simply has not been successful in maintaining its hardware revenue or market share. In many ways the reason for its decreased sales is because hardware is just not an area in which the new IBM pays attention.

 

In late 2003, IBM announced that its software division would focus its solutions on vertical marketplaces as opposed to selling software to whomever will buy it. Since the vertical strategy is already employed in Rochester, this is not expected to affect the AS/400. However, I think that it will. When a lumber company comes to IBM for its one stop shopping, IBM's Software Division will direct them to a software package for the industry as well as try to ensure that some of what is on the IBM software truck is sold.

 

Since the AS/400 software truck is not as full as the other trucks, and since its most important AS/400 middleware comes with the machine, human nature says that if the software division has a prospect, it is going to sell what it's got on its truck. Since they get less compensation for an AS/400 sale, the AS/400 will not be sold. Case closed. Therefore, you can bet none of these companies who contact the software division will ever hear about the AS/400--other than perhaps an acknowledgment that it is more expensive than Unix and Windows.

 

The Grim Reaper

 

They say that in life you reap what you sew. Unless IBM re-acknowledges that it is in the hardware businesses before it fritters its server business away, just as it did the PC business, the AS/400 and its hardware sisters and stepmother will be gone before the company knows it. When that happens, the discussion about how to save the AS/400 will be moot.

 

Though some may argue with me about it, the best thing that can happen to the IBM AS/400 is for Microsoft to buy the whole business from IBM or for IBM to donate OS/400 [now IBM i] to the Open Source Foundation. There would be no question that Bill Gates would highlight the product if it were his and he'd win the small and large server business by killing both Unix and the mainframe. Eventually, he'd put a GUI on the AS/400 and would drive the box with Windows-like icons. In addition to making AS/400 customers happy this would make Microsoft happy also.

 

Microsoft's internal IT staff would not have to be embarrassed anymore about running (or having run) the business on the AS/400 platform. Besides peace internally, Bill Gates would finally have a highly scalable and reliable platform upon which to run Windows. Intel need not apply. Don't rule it out!

 

A donation to the open source community would help IBM in a number of ways. AS/400 customers would get off IBM's back because the software would be open and free. IBM would not have to bear the cost of maintaining OS/400. The Open Source OS/400 may be tweaked to run on many different hardware platforms, including all of IBM's servers.

 

Short of action from Microsoft, or the donation route, if IBM chooses to save its AS/400 product line, this chapter has a number of suggestions. It starts with the top nine things the company can do and then generally discusses the problems that some of the nine solutions would address. The suggestion list continues in Chapter 34, with another set of suggestions for how to attract new blood to the AS/400 and how to get them prepared for training. If IBM is ready to sell, sell, sell, there is no doubt that the AS/400 can be saved.

 

To the IBM Vault?

 

What can IBM do to prevent the AS/400 from finding its way into the IBM vault. [Think of the Disney vault]  Vestiges from IBM's glorious and ignominious past are displayed in the vault. For example, you'll find the Series/1, the 305 RAMAC, the DataMaster, the 8100, the 1620, the DisplayWriter, and the Ford Edsel? Ford has its Edsel there because it did not have a vault and Disney would not take it.

 

Unlike the Disney vault, the IBM vault has an entrance but no exit. Products that go to the vault don't ever get taken out for a new look – even after the kids that worked with them have grown up. The list of suggestions to IBM then is intended to help keep the AS/400 from getting tossed into the vault along with the dead products of yesteryear.

 

In one form or another I would suppose that others have given these recommendations to IBM over the last ten years, but perhaps not all together as the list below and the education list in Chapter 34. When I read this list I say to myself, "of course, that will save the AS/400…yes, that's a good one, etc." But I am powerless and you are powerless other than to suggest. Suggestions or no suggestions, in the end it is IBM who must decide to what level its AS/400 has a role in its company. Based on the IBM view, the AS/400 may hit the vault or not.

 

AS/400 Partial Improvement List

 

1. Tell the world about AS/400 reliability and dependability. Since most AS/400 users believe that the most important part of an AS/400 is its reliability and dependability, IBM should tell somebody about it. Marketing is not about best kept secrets.

 

2. Tell the world about the marvels of AS/400 integration. Since IBM thinks that the most important part of the AS/400 is its integration characteristics (as in iSeries), again, tell somebody about it, and begin to integrate the many standalone products, such as WebSphere to keep the "i" in iSeries from meaning "disintegrated."

 

3. Position the AS/400 as a new account business computer. Since no business expands without some new accounts, and new accounts don't come calling by themselves, again, IBM should tell somebody that they want new accounts and that they can sustain new accounts. A new accounts S.W.A.T. team would help in this regard.

 

4. Create a new baby sized AS/400 server / personal machine. Since the PowerPC chip line is so dominant in non-PC circles (almost all chips in game toys are IBM's), the company should use this chip to create an AS/400 style machine to sell to new accounts. There is really no reason to import OS/400 to the Intel platform if this is done.

Again, if IBM were to build it, the company would have to tell somebody about its new affordable AS/400 server and development machine. The machine should be sold as an integrated, affordable package at about $2,000.00 or less.

 

5. Give AS/400s away to students and to colleges. IBM should have a lottery once a week, on a different campus every week, in which they give away one or two small AS/400s to a college student and the host college. To qualify for the lottery, a student might be asked to bid a dollar and all the dollars would go to the institution or to Student Government.

 

If IBM were to create this inexpensive AS/400 I would recommend giving at least one to every college and community college as a good will gesture during its kickoff period. Of course, the company would also be compelled to tell the colleges why the AS/400 should have value to them. To do this, again, IBM would have to let somebody know about the system, as in all other scenarios. Additionally, the company would have to let the general public know that these little AS/400 boxes are coming to a college close to home so the public has the opportunity to learn about the alive and well AS/400.

 

6. Add a standard GUI to the AS/400 operating system box (MAC OS). Since the AS/400 looks just like the tired old legacy system that Microsoft and the trade press have it painted to be, IBM should buy the Mac GUI from Apple and adapt it as the GUI for the AS/400. The MAC and the AS/400 both use PowerPC processor technology. Academia would automatically like the AS/400 since they love the Mac. By the way, the Mac and the Apple PowerBook use the same family of chips as the AS/400. Again, IBM would have to tell somebody about this.

An alternative would be to rebuild the OS/400 front end to use an HTML or better yet, an XML driven GUI. The AS/400 command structure could also be rescued to participate in the resolution of the commands.

 

7. Create a hybrid futuristic Mac/AS/400 PC. Along with Apple, IBM should build a PC that has the outward look and feel of a Mac and the inner elegance and full application facilities of an AS/400. If IBM were to perform this magic, it would create another PC revolution. To ensure success, Apple would have to market the device.

 

8. Take advice from Mark Twain and announce that the AS/400 is not dead and that it is not even tired. Since no business wants to install a server or even upgrade one that is dead, and the trade press has declared that the AS/400 and green screens are dead, and IBM behaves as if the AS/400 actually is dead, the company, like Mark Twain should announce that the AS/400 is not dead and that the reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. Again, IBM must tell someone about this.

 

9. Add generic aliases to the IBM server line, making the AS/400 the "IBM Business System." Rather than have IBM embarrass itself by discarding the eServer umbrella, add a generic primary differentiator name to the eServer brand so that the system can be known by a generic alias. Generic aliases for the other systems are already unofficially in place--IBM Mainframe Server; IBM Unix Server; IBM PC (x86) Server. The IBM Business System or even the IBM Business Server moniker would properly position the AS/400 and clear up its primary purpose.

 

10. etc. The list continues.

 

The Absence of AS/400 Awareness

 

In order to offer suggestions for improvement, you must examine the problems that the AS/400 platform is currently experiencing that makes it an at-risk-system in the 21st century. Most of my peers with whom I communicate share the thought that IBM's biggest problem with its AS/400 line of computers, besides IBM per se, is buyer awareness. Other than the AS/400 professionals, the IT folks who manage, develop, implement, and operate AS/400 systems on a regular basis, there is almost no awareness of the product.

 

There is even less awareness of its new pseudonym, iSeries.

Interestingly, this is not much different than the early days of computing when only the insiders knew what an IBM 1130, a System/3, or a System/38 might be like. In the early days, very few people knew anything about any computer, other than those people working directly with computers in their businesses. That is not the case today. More people know about computers today than those who do not know about them. More importantly, ordinary people know computers today from things they do and see outside of their workplace. Just like the days gone by, not many people, other than those directly involved, know anything about the big back room computers that do the companies work every day.

 

Who are the people then who know little about their computer at work but are very aware of computers in the rest of their lives? You already know who they are. They are my neighbors and they are your neighbors. Four out of five of them are likely to have at least one computer at home and nineteen out of twenty are likely to have a close relative with one. This same percentage of people is on the Internet every day or so, looking for an email from a son or daughter or parent or other loved one, or perhaps an acknowledgment that their last big purchase, such as a digital camera, CD, or cell phone has been shipped.

 

These people are Firemen, Accountants, Nurses, Police, Food Service Workers, Maintenance Personnel, Doctors, Plumbers, CEOs, Store Owners, Sales People, Secretaries, Street Cleaners, Teachers, Linemen, Clergy, Cable Workers, Bankers, other government workers, other school workers, and other industry workers. Please don't forget the retirees, because many of us continue to persevere in the job marketplace. Of course we can't forget the computer geeks and the students from high school to college to graduate school. All of these people, you and I included; know much more about computers in our home lives than people ever did before.

 

Opinion's Count. But?

 

 

The Living Room CEO

 

You don't have to be technical to understand this. But the computer mindshare battle - no matter what size computer--must be fought in the living room. The living room CEO becomes the boardroom CEO again every Monday morning. They are one and the same people. People can be taught the meaning of PC, Unix, Mainframe and AS/400 in simple terms by IBM ads if IBM chooses to fight. IBM, you got that? "In the living room!" And down the road, maybe IBM can actually set the stage for something that gets IBM machines back on the desktop, and in people’s minds.



Brian Kelly is an IT consultant who heads Kelly Consulting, a practice based in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Brian is a well-known author and an AS/400 and iSeries expert. E-mail:info@letsgopublish.com. To read this article in its entirety, go to  http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh100404-story04.html

 

 

 

___________________________________________________

 

LETS GO PUBLISH! Books:

 

LETS GO PUBLISH!  is proud to announce that more AS/400 and Systemi books are becoming available to help you inexpensively address your AS/400 and iSeries education and training needs:  Our titles include the following: email info@letsgopublish.com or go to the referenced sites for ordering information

 

All of these books are available.

Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

 

Do you want to know how to develop code on the IBM Power Systems for IBM I, a.k.a the all-everything operating system. The book described below is all you need. It’s in there!

 

 

The IBM i Pocket Developers’ Guide.

 

Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

 

Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

This is a comprehensive pocket guide to all of the AS/400 and iSeries development tools - DFU, SDA, etc.  You’ll also get a big bonus with chapters on rchitecture, work management, and subfile coding.

 

This book is designed to be your pocket guide for learning and using the standard development tools available with just about every AS/400 and iSeries server. Author Brian Kelly used his standup classroom courses as the basis for these self-contained QuikCourses.

 

This book is based on 20 years of classroom experience and more than 30 years of experience with System/3X products. It is chock full of hands-on tutorial exercises. When you experience this very real, easy-to-understand explanation of what an iSeries and its AD components are all about, and how to use the IBM AD tools, you'll understand the immense value of this guide.

 

This is the first book to hand to new developers. With a little help from your system administrator, new-hires can use the iSeries AD tools in days, not months. Moreover, existing developers can gain valuable insights, reminders, and tips to enhance their AD experience.

 

The IBM  i Pocket Database Guide.

 

Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

Finally, there is a Pocket Database Guide for native AS/400 and iSeries database development. Yes, it is in big pocket guide form and it is tutorial in nature. You'll be pleased with all the valuable examples.

 

You won't want to put down this comprehensive guide to DB2/400 when you get your hands on it. As you may know, there typically is no DB Administrator position in AS/400 shops. The database job is up to you - the AS/400 and iSeries Application Developer.

 

Though rich in content, IBM's reference manuals are not built to teach you. They are for reference. This pocket guide is different. It is your teaching/learning vehicle to the native database. It is your new tool to help you solve programming problems more efficiently with database coding - rather than have to work harder building program code.

 

Complete Pocket Guide to iSeries integrated relational database (DB2/400)  physical and logical files and DB operations - Union, Projection, Join, etc.  Written in a part tutorial and part reference style, this book has tons of DDS coding samples, from the simple to the sublime.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The IBM i Pocket SQL Guide.

 

 

Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

Finally, there is a Pocket Developer's Guide for IBM i SQL database development. Yes, it is in big pocket guide form and it is tutorial in nature. You'll be pleased with all the valuable explanations and examples. You won't want to put down this comprehensive guide to learning iSeries SQL now that you've got your hands on it. This book is 20 years overdue.

 

In today's IT landscape, most shops support heterogeneous systems with numerous client and server PCs, and even Unix boxes. Ironically, all of these non-IBM i platforms, from the smallest to the largest have one thing in common in the relational database area.

 

They all use SQL as their data language. That's a big change in the database landscape. Nobody even tries to deny that SQL is now the industry data / query language standard. IBM backs SQL 100%. A quick look at the SQL function list for V5R4 gives a good indication that SQL will have an even more important role in the iSeries future.

 

IBM has been chipping away at all the little things and the annoying things over the years so that SQL is no longer a lesser function cousin on iSeries to DDS. It certainly is not yet the time to throw in the DDS towel but the new SQL functions are more and more compelling with each release. So, today, it makes little sense for an iSeries professional to not be on board by warming up to SQL — at least for functions that return sets of data.

 

This Pocket Guide has an example for just about every type of common SQL function you can imagine - from creating tables & views to performing simple and complex selections, column and scalar functions, sub-queries, all the way to unions and joins.

 

Author Brian Kelly designed this book to show you how to use SQL by working with rich examples that you'll use over and over again. Additionally, for each example, there is the explanation you need to get a head start on being an SQL guru. This is the first book to hand to your new developers and it is a natural for the veteran development team. More importantly, rather than seeing Oracle as the only database taught at your local Community Colleges, Colleges, and Universities, finally there is an up-to-date SQL Guide as the right sized text to use as a teaching vehicle for a modern iSeries database course.

 

Complete Pocket Guide to SQL as implemented on IBM i.  A must have for SQL developers new to System i5. It is very compact yet very comprehensive and it is example driven. Written in a part tutorial and part reference style, this book has tons of SQL coding samples, from the simple to the sublime.

 

The IBM i Pocket Query Guide

 

Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

Finally, there is a Pocket Query Guide for training IT and non-IT personnel for Query/400. Yes, it is in big pocket guide form and it is tutorial in nature! You'll be pleased with all the valuable examples, especially result fields, selection and output options. You won't want to put down the first comprehensive guide to Query/400 now that you have your hands on it. This book was overdue 20 years ago, when Query/36 was the offering of the day.

 

As strange as it may seem, there has never been a Query book such as this...ever. Yet, there are tons of expensive Query classes. It is difficult in most companies to get someone to step up to the plate to learn Query. Moreover, OJT is a tough learning experience and an inexact science at best. How do you know if you're ever right?

 

The biggest cost of Query work may be impossible to quantify. The inaccurate answers that are returned from important queries, done by well intentioned, but inexperienced knowledge workers, can be costly. Making important decisions on erroneous information, however, can be even more costly. Then there is the employee turnover issue. Just when they get good at Query, they're gone. There is always another person or a team of people to train.

 

IT is continually training users on the same Query product. Training by any source is expensive. From IBM classes to expensive self-training systems, there is no cheap alternative. It is always expensive, but it doesn't always work. It's difficult to achieve the objectives.

 

Moreover, history suggests that one thing about Query training is always true. In a year or two, you will be doing it again. Not anymore! There is no magic in the Pocket Guide, but everything you need is in there! In addition, it is easy to read. The objective is for the users to train themselves.

 

The IBM i Pocket Query Guide, a little help from co-workers along the way, and a careful evaluation by IT is all you need. The Guide has an example for just about every type of Query you can imagine — from major result fields to File Joins. You'll see how to do it with examples that you'll use repeatedly. Additionally, for each example, there is a detailed explanation as well as the theory you need to get a head start on becoming a Query/400 guru.

 

If you have been spending money for years educating your Query users, and you find you are still spending, or you've given up, this book is right for you. This one QuikCourse covers all Query options.  www.bookhawkers.com

 

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Additional Lets Go Publish! books

written by Brian W. Kelly

 

The following books are out of print but the LGP warehouse still has a small supply of them. You may purchase any of them by sending a note to info@letsgopublish.com, and we will send you information for how to place your order:

 

The price for any of these vintage issues is just $6.00 each or two for $10.00 mix and match titles.

 

Getting Started With The WebSphere Development Studio for iSeries . Your introduction to the new IBM strategy for Application Development. Includes a case study and examples of UI / Logic separation and CPW savings techniques. 

 

Getting Started With The WebSphere Development Studio Client for iSeries

 

Your one stop guide to ordering, installing, fixing, configuring, and using WebSphere ExpressClient Server and the Web. Your introduction to the client server and web development tools. Includes CODE/400, VisualAge RPG, CGI, WebFacing, and WebSphere Studio. Case study continues from the Interactive Book. , Apache, WebFacing, System i5 Access for Web, and HATS/LE. 

 

The System i5 Express Web Implementor’s Guide

 

Your one stop guide to ordering, installing, fixing, configuring, and using WebSphere Express, Apache, WebFacing, System i5 Access for Web, and HATS/LE.

 

The iSeries Pocket WebFacing Primer. 

 

This book gets you started immediately with WebFacing.   A sample case study is used as the basis for a conversion to WebFacing. This interactive 5250 application is WebFaced in a case study format before your eyes.  Either learn by reading the book or read while working along on your own system.

 

Migrating to WebSphere Express for iSeries: Your Roadmap for Migrating Applications to WebSphere Express

 

A Comprehensive guide designed to be your Roadmap for moving to WAS Express for iSeries. It is loaded with examples and structured for easy learning. Through an easy to understand sample case study, you experience a real migration, and you learn the gotchas before they getcha!  This book is designed to be a companion to all of your WAS Express migration efforts in the iSeries environment.

 

 

Getting Started with WebSphere Express Server for iSeries: Your Step-by-Step Guide for Setting Up WAS Express Servers

 

 A Comprehensive guide to setting up and using WebSphere Express. It is filled with examples, and structured in a tutorial fashion for easy learning.  The book is designed to take you to a point at which you understand the notion of a servlet server, what WebSphere Express is, where it came from, how to order it, how to set it up, and how to make it work in your shop.

 

The WebFacing Application Design & Development Guide:

 

The Step by Step Guide to Designing Green Screen iSeries Applications for the Web.  This is both a systems design guide and a developers guide.  Using this guide, you will understand how to design and develop Web applications using regular workstation interactive RPG or COBOL programs.  When you learn the tricks, and observe the sample code in action, you might choose to develop all your applications using this approach. 

 

Go to amazon.com/author/brianwkelly to order this book.

 

Bookhawkers.com books are now available on Amazon.,

 

The Best Damm Web Builders' Series

In the fall, 2008, Lets Go Publish released our Best Damm Web Builder / Joomla! Series.  Five of the books are about Joomla! per se on all platforms, including IBM i, and the other two have to do with installing and programming PHP / MySQL on IBM i.  Click on the image below to see the descriptions for the Best Damm Web Builders Series, featuring Joomla! for all platforms and PHP/MySQL for IBM i.

 

The same two-for deal applies to the five Joomla books below in the “series photo.”  The IBM i books can be book # 2 of a two-for $10.00. If you choose to buy them alone, they sell at list price.  Don’t forget to email info@letsgopublish.com to begin a dialog about buying the books not hosted on www.bookhawkers.com

 

 

 

 

Lets Go Publish!'s (LGP!) Best Damm Joomla! Web Builder Series shows you how to get Joomla! up and running, and looking good regardless of your system type or ISP,  in the shortest time possible.

Seven is a lucky number and there are seven books in this series. Check them out!

Whether you use Windows, Unix, Linux, IBM i, a mainframe, or you use a hosted facility such as godaddy.com, if you want to learn about Joomla, we have the book series for you -- from a generic Joomla tutorial -- the bast damm tutorial in the business to how to build an intranet, to working with templates -- even how to install Joomla on multiple platforms.  This is the book series. Enjoy picking your first book from this seven book series.


Within this intranet learning specialty that LGP now provides via these books we now foster, you will find a number of books on Joomla!  In case you had not heard, Joomla! is phenomenal! It is an open source framework and content publishing system designed for quickly creating highly interactive multi-language Web sites, online communities, media portals, blogs and eCommerce applications.  Best of all, it runs on all platforms including IBM i, and we have a book with special chapters that show you how to install on IBM i. This same book also shows you how to install on all other platforms, including your desktop. 

Joomla! provides an easy-to-use graphical user interface that simplifies the management and publishing of large volumes of content including HTML, documents, and rich media. Joomla! is used by organisations of all sizes for Public Web sites, Intranets, and Extranets and is supported by a community of thousands of users. If you give it a spin, you may be a Joomla! user on your desktop and on your server system, sooner than you think! 

 

It's the easiest way for anybody including IT pros to set up their own Web site and have it look great and be functional, right out of the box. And, Joomla! is free!

 

For more information on the above $5.00 books, click here.

 

Thank you for your interest in my books.

Sincerely

Brian W. Kelly

 

Yes, I may run for Congress again or perhaps Mayor of Wilkes-Barre, PA. 18702 or something!

God bless you all and God bless America.