Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

News: ChatGPT is the fastest growing app of all time. IBM i Champions Announced for 2023. 2023 IBM i Marketplace Survey Results Revealed.
Development: PHP 8.2.2 Released! New Open Source Language for the IBM i. Using ChatGPT to improve your coding skills.
Leadership: Storytelling Will Make You a Better Leader.

News

ChatGPT is the fastest growing app of all time

It is hard to know how ChatGPT will impact our market. Nevertheless, as this article points out, it is the fastest-growing app of all time.

It is clearly a useful tool that will change the way we do our work.

IBM i Champions Announced for 2023

Out of the 839 IBM champions, 90 of them are on the IBM i globally.

The breakdown by country.

United States – 32
Germany – 8
France – 5
Denmark – 5
UK – 5
Spain – 3
Italy – 3
Belgium – 2
Netherlands – 2
Czech Republic – 2
Canada – 2
Sweden – 2
Japan – 2
Argentina – 2
Mexico – 1
Poland – 1
Ireland – 1
Austria – 1
India -1
Luxemburg -1

“There are 11 categories for the IBM Champions program, including AIOps, business automation, cloud, data and AI, hybrid cloud, IBM zAnoints, integration, Power, security, storage, and sustainability.”

2023 IBM i Marketplace Survey Results Revealed

There is a lot to unpack here. Anyone who is concerned about the viability of the IBM i platform and its marketplace should take the time to view the webinar covering the IBM i Marketplace survey results for 2023.

Here is a quick overview of the topics covered.

Power10 adoption and future plans.
How organizations continue to support remote workforces.
The trend towards higher adoption of Rational Developer for i (RDi).
The shift from hybrid to more cloud-based environments.
Top concerns when planning IT environments with IBM i.

Development

PHP 8.2.2 Released!

For IBM i developers using PHP:

“The PHP development team announces the immediate availability of PHP 8.2.2. This is a bug fix release.

“All PHP 8.2 users are encouraged to upgrade to this version.”

New Open Source Language for the IBM i

Could Julia be the next programming language for the IBM i?

“Julia is a high-level programming language that is applicable to a range of fields, but has mostly been used for technical computing, such as numerical analysis, scientific computing, and data science.”

Julia is similar to Python and MATLAB and is apparently easy to learn for those familiar with them. Developed at MIT back in 2009, it has “been widely adopted around the computing community, by governmental agencies as well as corporations.”

She is currently ranked 29 on the TIOBE Index.

Will Julia be added to the list of languages like Python and R for the IBM i?

“There’s no telling whether IBM will act on this request, or if there is an upwelling of support for getting Julia on IBM i. IBM has already brought two languages commonly used in data science, Python and R, to the platform. Does it need another one? Only time will tell.”

Using ChatGPT to improve your coding skills

I know, another article about ChatGPT. But, this one brings up an interesting use case for IBM i developers.

If you are an RPG developer looking to learn Javascript, consider using ChatGPT to explain coding concepts and algorithms to help solidify your understanding of them. This can also help you identify areas where you may need to study more.

Research and Learning

“ChatGPT can be used for coding research and learning by inputting prompts that ask for information on a specific technology or programming language. For example, one can input a prompt like “What are the key features of Python 3.0?” or “What are the best practices for writing efficient JavaScript code?”

Leadership

Storytelling Will Make You a Better Leader

Storytelling isn’t show business, it’s good business.

To make a case for why your company should modernize and leverage its investment in the IBM i, you need to be a “good storyteller.”

Have you ever heard someone suggest that IBM could improve its platform marketing efforts?

I have.

However, it is fair to say that IBM has done its job in many ways.

For example, take a look at the IBM i Marketplace survey, which is highlighted in this issue of Talsco Weekly, and it is evident that a number of innovative things are happing in the community.

Be well-informed.

Being a well-informed IBM i professional is a necessary component of being able to convince management and the user community at any given company about how “amazing the IBM i platform is.”

Then become a good storyteller.

“The ability to tell good stories that fully engage others – is the most powerful instrument in the communication toolbox.”

In fact, “the storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda.”

As you read this article about how storytelling makes you a better leader, think about how you could incorporate some of the methods when you are presenting your next IBM i modernization project.

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