Articles

Master ILE RPG data structures: dcl-ds syntax, qualified data structures with dot notation, LIKEDS for cloning a structure, template data…

Understand the IBM i PASE runtime in depth: AIX binary compatibility, how PASE differs from QShell, managing environment variables, PASE…

Set up a modern IBM i development environment in 2026: install the Code for IBM i VS Code extension, edit…

A complete guide to IBM i work management in 2026: create custom subsystem descriptions, configure routing entries and class objects,…

Learn how to integrate IBM i with Microsoft Azure in 2026 using the Azure Python and Node.js SDKs in PASE.…

A comprehensive guide to DB2 for i JSON and XML functions in 2026: extracting scalars with JSON_VALUE, shredding arrays with…

A deep dive into the IBM i ILE binding model: how modules, programs, service programs, and binding directories relate, how…

Master IBM i CL exception handling in 2026: message file architecture, CRTMSGF and ADDMSGD to define messages, SNDPGMMSG for escape…

A practical guide to IBM i security hardening in 2026: QSECURITY levels 10–50, auditing user profiles with QSYS2.USER_INFO, removing excessive…

A comprehensive guide to DB2 for i SQL stored procedures and user-defined functions in 2026: CREATE PROCEDURE syntax, IN/OUT parameters,…

A practical guide to using AI and large language models to document legacy IBM i RPG programs in 2026: extracting…

A complete guide to IBM i system startup and shutdown procedures in 2026: understanding the IPL sequence, configuring QSTRUP, starting…

HTTPAPI by Scott Klement is the standard open source library for making outbound HTTP calls from IBM i RPG programs.…

DB2 for i triggers fire automatically on INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE, enforcing rules that application code cannot bypass. This post…

A complete guide to RPGUnit for ILE RPG in 2026: install the framework, write test cases and test suites for…

A practical IBM i application modernisation roadmap for 2026: compare six strategies from screen transformation and API wrapping to selective…

Vector search and text embeddings bring semantic search to IBM i in 2026 — converting DB2 for i text fields…

DB2 for i replication in 2026 is built on IBM i journals — the same journal receivers that underpin HA…

A hands-on guide to connecting IBM i with Apache Kafka in 2026 — running kafkajs and confluent-kafka-python producers in PASE,…

A practical guide to IBM i display files in 2026 — DDS syntax, CRTDSPF, RPG EXFMT screen I/O, subfile programming…

IBM i PTF management in 2026 spans four distinct fix types — individual PTFs, cumulative PTF packages, SF99xxx group PTFs,…

IBM i high availability and disaster recovery in 2026 requires understanding the full stack: geographic mirroring at the storage layer,…

Python runs natively on IBM i in PASE with direct DB2 access via ibm_db and pyodbc, IBM i program calls…

The IBM i OS API layer accessible from ILE RPG: QCMDEXC for running CL commands at runtime, the list API…

Advanced IBM i IFS topics for production environments: enabling journalling on IFS directories for recovery and replication, sharing IFS directories…

The operational CL commands IBM i administrators use every day: WRKACTJOB status codes explained (RUN, DSKW, LCKW, MSGW), CHGJOB and…

Advanced DB2 for i query performance: the SQE versus CQE split and what it means for your queries, column statistics…

IBM i performance problems are almost always paging (undersized memory pools) or SQL without indexes. This post covers the IBM…

Node.js runs natively on IBM i in PASE with direct in-process access to DB2 for i via idb-connector and to…

AI intersects with IBM i in three ways: as an integration target (calling OpenAI or watsonx from RPG and SQL…

The IBM i Integrated File System is the foundation of modern IBM i development — Git, open-source packages, Node.js, Python,…

IBM i security is object-based and OS-enforced — bypassing the application does not bypass security. This post covers QSECURITY levels,…

DB2 for i is not a database running on IBM i — it is part of the operating system. This…

Modern RPG is not the fixed-format column-dependent code that gave the language its reputation. This post covers fully free-format RPG…

CL is not a legacy language waiting to be replaced — it is the correct tool for controlling the IBM…

IBM i can integrate with Azure, AWS, and SaaS platforms without custom adapters or protocol gymnastics. This post covers five…

IBM i has collected detailed performance data for decades — most shops only look at it when something breaks. This…

IBM i DevOps is not theoretical — Git, Bob, RPGUnit, and GitHub Actions all run on IBM i 7.3+. This…

REST APIs are the bridge between IBM i and modern front ends. This post covers every practical option — IAS…

The "should we leave IBM i?" conversation has been happening for twenty years. The shops that handled it well are…

Most IBM i shops still manage source the same way they did in the 1990s — members in source physical…

IBM i batch jobs are the ones nobody watches — until one fails. This post covers SBMJOB, WRKJOBSCDE, job queues,…

Every RPG developer eventually writes a program that does something it should not. The calculation is wrong. The loop runs…

Most RPG programs are written to handle the happy path. The file exists, the record is found, the calculation succeeds,…

IBM i has a reputation for being secure. That reputation is earned — the security model is granular, well-designed, and…

Performance problems on IBM i tend to fall into a small number of categories. A query that reads every record…

Every IBM i developer eventually ends up doing some administration. A job gets stuck. The output queue fills up. A…

IBM i has been talking to other systems for decades. EDI over AS/400 communications, FTP file drops, MQ message queues…

Most IBM i developers spend their entire careers working with physical files and never touch the IFS. That is understandable…

Every physical file you have ever defined in DDS, every CHAIN and READ in your RPG programs, every logical file…

If you write RPG, you already use CL whether you realise it or not. Every time you submit a job,…

You already know how to read files with READ and CHAIN. They work. But the moment your query involves a…

Subprocedures let you break logic into reusable blocks inside a single program. Service programs take it further — compile your…

You already write RPG. Free-format does not replace what you know — it removes the straitjacket. No more counting columns,…

A practical enterprise guide to IBM i modernization covering APIs, RPG transformation, AI-assisted modernization, and legacy system evolution.