You’re reading IBM i Pulse, our weekly bite-sized roundup of the latest headlines in the IBM i industry. We're starting this week's edition off with an article from one of our own prized developers, Brian May...

Programming Standards: Good, Bad, and Ugly
by Brian May

• "This month, I want to talk about coding standards. The mention of the topic makes some managers and developers all warm and fuzzy and others cringe."
• "Standards have a place. They can add consistency to your code and greatly reduce the time needed to analyze code or research bugs. Naming conventions and application structure should adhere to a standard."
• "Your standards should never limit your developers' creativity. While some may think a developer's job is to write code, they are really there to solve problems. Standards should help developers solve problems, not hinder them."

Source: http://www.mcpressonline.com/rpg/programming-standards-good-bad-and-ugly.html

What JSON on IBM i Can Do For You
by Alex Woodie

• "One of the most compelling new features that IBM added to the DB2 for i database in recent memory is support for JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), which has become the de facto standard interchange format for Web data."
• "Many IBM i developers are beginning to use JavaScript as a front-end scripting language for developing Web and mobile interfaces. While the backend business logic for these apps remain in RPG, Java, PHP, or other language, the front-end is typically written in JavaScript, and quite often the data format it will use is JSON."

Source: http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh101415-story02.html

Tiered Storage Upgrade Boosts BRMS
by Dan Burger

• "IBM Backup, Recovery, and Media Services (BRMS) found a front row seat during the IBM i Technology Refresh announcements this month because of its new tiered storage capabilities."
• "Storage tiering allows libraries to be moved based on frequency of use, giving system admins the capability to assign frequently accessed files to faster storage tiers and files that have not been recently viewed to slower storage tiers."

Source: http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh101915-story03.html

Enterprise-Class Cloud Storage Is Just a Tape Away
by Nick Harris

• "Delivering cost-effective backup and archive for the traditional data center has been the subject of much debate. In a 24x7 environment, it’s been about how fast organizations can restore files or whole virtual machines after a problem."
• Yes, IBM hears the sighs, “tape is old tech; it’s dying” but tape is about to be a disruptive force in long-term data storage. Tape is a technology that has been around for a long time and it’s designed to last a long time.

Source: http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/ibmi/storage/tape/cloud-tape-lto7/

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