Talsco Weekly: Are IBM i Software Companies Leveraging AI?

Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

IBM i Brief: Jack Henry will continue to offer support. RPG to C# Source Code Made Easy by ASNA. IBM's Focus on AI and Hybrid Cloud Computing. Fresche Solutions offers subscription-based pricing.
AI: Are IBM i Software Companies Leveraging AI? AI In Software Development.
Career: Pivot in the last third of your career. RPG Career Planning.

IBM i Brief

Jack Henry will continue to offer support Jack Henry & Associates announced that they will continue to support IBM i for the foreseeable future. Despite rumors about the demise of IBM i, Jack Henry & Associates has reassured its customers that it will continue to support the operating system and that it has no plans to discontinue its use. They also acknowledge that they will “begin to provide alternatives to our customers that will come in different shapes and sizes.” They are looking to bring their core products to the Internet and move away from the monolithic, major-release model. Find the rest of the details over at IT Jungle. RPG to C# Source Code Made Easy by ASNA “ASNA this summer unveiled a new version of Monarch, its flagship offering for migrating RPG applications to .NET Core. The big new deliverable with Monarch 11 is the introduction of Encore RPG, which enables IBM i shops to convert their RPG directly into usable C# source code. The new product will help IBM i shops with aging RPG programmers make the gradual transition to C#, ASNA says.” IBM's Focus on AI and Hybrid Cloud Computing For IBM in its current era, the importance of picking which technologies to focus on means zeroing in on artificial intelligence and hybrid cloud computing as areas where Big Blue wants to be a global leader. Certain workloads will undoubtedly migrate to the cloud rather than on-premises. It will involve “trying out a SaaS-style AI tool where all of the work is done or moving to a SaaS application that has AI in it from the start.” Fresche Solutions offers subscription-based pricing Fresche Solutions has launched a new subscription-based licensing model for its flagship products. The new licensing model is designed to provide greater flexibility and cost-effectiveness for customers who use Fresche Solutions' software. It will allow customers to pay for the software on a monthly or annual basis, rather than making a large upfront investment.

AI

Are IBM i Software Companies Leveraging AI? AI is increasingly being used to develop software tools and improve various aspects of the software development process. And yes, IBM i companies are Leveraging AI. Profound Logic is one of them.

Profound Logic has been at the forefront of exploring AI and identifying ways to bring real value to its customers. Leveraging AI for code transformation, indexing data, building AI co-pilots, and creating AI plugins are just a few examples of how Profound Logic integrates AI into its solutions.

AI In Software Development Here are 10 ways AI is being used to develop software tools and improve various aspects of the software development process.

Code Generation and Autocompletion
Bug Detection and Code Analysis
Natural Language Processing (NLP) for Requirements
Automated Testing
DevOps and Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)
Code Refactoring
Code Review and Collaboration
Predictive Maintenance
Knowledge Sharing and Documentation
Low-Code and No-Code Development

While AI might scare some developers, others will see it as a powerful tool to enhance productivity, identify patterns, and automate repetitive tasks, allowing developers to focus on more creative and high-value aspects of software development. What do you think?

Career

Pivot in the last third of your career One of the most common requests, or should I say desires, we hear from IBM i professionals as they get closer to retirement is that they are looking to get back to their technical roots.

“I am good at management, but I love and miss being technical. I want to get back to coding.”

Does this sound like you? RPG Career Planning “The future role of the RPG developer will be to master the IBM i platform and become an Integration Specialist, having the ability to connect core business systems to web, cloud, eCommerce, IoT, and other emerging technologies.” This will be done by leveraging APIs, web services, and languages like JavaScript.

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