Synon 2E upcoming features

Broadcom did a show and tell session on the 28th of October, they have also shared the video (link below)

Broadcom AppDev Essentials

Here is what I garnered from it from a 2e perspective.

Obviously this disclaimer (aka a safe harbour statement) is there to advise that none of these features are guaranteed to be included in a future version.  

If the two features showcased today, my personal opinion is one is very close and likely to be in the next release.  The later, I feel is still some years off...  But that's just what I think.

 

There are a couple of key highlights here.  The main one for me is the continued technical debt replacement for PL1 code.  This is often touted by technology managers that the toolset is outdated, "even IBM won't support the complier used to build the tool".  As 2e advocates we know the real truth, but the number of times I have heard this ignorance spewed in recent years is testament that a bad story gains traction.

The sooner Broadcom can resolve this the better it is for all.

The BLOB and CLOB support as data types is about 20 years late IMHO.  Most sites have already done workarounds with user functions but I still welcome this functionality and WILL use it.

2E VS Code Viewer

During the event a couple of demos were shown.  The first one was for a 2E VS Code plug-in.  A fresh view of the 2e model.   The demonstration showcased the following elements.

Action Diagram viewer

Usages/References viewer

Generated Source and Joblog viewer

All of these look cool and I guess the intention is to replace the 5250 environment with a modern IDE but built on the industry standards.  From what I saw it looks quite neat.  However, the real issue is that it is currently not a like for like replacement of the 5250 interface and until it is 100%, I fear the uptake will be minimal.  If you cannot edit an action diagram (for example), then a viewer is merely that.

It was stated that 'EDIT' is being looked at 'kind a', and I do hope it comes to fruition.  I remember my colleague Yuriy wrote his own viewer in VB some 25 years ago so it is clear that Broadcom have done the easy bit, so far.

Integrating this with Implementer, 5250 and VS Code development (together) are the real challenges and I have everything crossed that the development team will achieve this.

Move EEF's

This next demo was another one of those little things you'd hoped would have been done 30 years ago, but it still has its use today.  Everyone has models where EEF's (Execute External Functions) have been written across the wrong file.  A Scan utility on the Loan Account file rather than #System Utilities.  A calc GST function on the Customer Invoice file rather than the Tax Code file.

This little improvement allows you to move the functions around wth a simple subfile option.

Similar to the copy function screen.

Nice little completion message.

And yes, before you ask.  It does handles all the called references in the action diagram and also updates the AD of the calling functions without need to re-prompt.

My current shop is only on 8.7.0 so we have quite a lot more little features to explore with the 8.7.1, 8.7.2, 8.7.3 and 8.7.4 mini uplifts over the last 6 or 7 years.  An upcoming blog post will cover some of the 2e features (when I get my hands on them).

Thanks for reading the 

Synon 2E and Plex Emporium by Lee Dare (A developer blog). 

Lee.

RIP 'The King' - Scott Klement

My phone delivered some sad news today for the IBM i community.

News is filtering through (on LinkedIn) that Scott Klement has passed away.   The tributes online are broad, some hailing his technical genius, some acknowledging his character and kindness.  Some even touching on his quirky traits, especially the short thrift he'd express for 'non thinkers'.

I've never met the man, but like most shops, we've reviewed and used many of his tools.  We'd see answers on forums and instantly graduate to his 'post' as we knew it'd be correct.  He held a great authority on the IBM i (AS/400) platform and that knowledge (if it wasn't for the fact that he dedicated his professional life to sharing), would be lost.

To his family and friends, we are all thinking of you, and for Scott, I do hope you have a terminal up there fella.

From my current site.  

We thank you, your memory and code (it seems) will live on for many more years yet.

My site eternally grateful

Thanks for reading the 

Synon 2E and Plex Emporium by Lee Dare (A developer blog). 

Lee.

Behind the Curtain (new site)

The journey from the old blogger site (currently still maintained) to this new one started off as a vibe coding experiment.  This has been extensively documented on the site, just search lovable (topics/labels) and you'll see all the related articles.

There is lots to the site with articles, topics, sitemap (yeah press F14, like you do in 2E for a little easter egg).

Supporting this, I also had to build out a fully functioning CMS (still work in progress but I've enough to showcase here).  

But before we pull back the curtain, first a couple of features you may not see at first glance.

Feature 1

First of all there is the search box.  Press / on a keyboard (Desktop) or select search from the top menu and you can search the entire site.

Feature 2

You can now get hold of me a little easier, from within the site if LinkedIn is not your dang.

Behind the scenes - part 1

A complete message and blog management CMS portal.  View and delete your incoming messages, import blog pages from old site, create new (exclusive content), view HTML, Live preview, set to live, set relevant meta data.

Behind the scenes - part 2

WYSIWYG editor, 5250 in style, colour palette selection support, image upload.

Behind the scenes - part 3

Set the publish date of the blog, by far my favourite element of the entire site.  The 5250 date picker.  Retro heaven.

There are many other super cool features etc and way too many for a single blog post.  Auto Sitemap, SEO, Image management, save assist, deep linking, AI search friendly, 5250 scroll bars, 404, Desktop, Table and iPhone readiness, Camera roll uploading, post sharing, RSS.........  And I've still got a few more things to implement.

I have plenty of plans to grow the entire eco-system and I truly welcome ideas, content requests, content and tips sharing.  I'll credit the donating source.  i.e. David my mate in NZ, recommend the F7/F8 (Previous/next) support from within a blog post.

Thanks for reading the 

Synon 2E and Plex Emporium by Lee Dare (A developer blog). 

Lee.

News from Broadcom Today.

News from Broadcom today.

2E has been certified on Power 11 hardware to IBMi o/s level 7.5 and 7.6

No excuse not to keep current and keep those support agreements up to date.

I've decided to do a blog about some of the features in the new versions in the coming weeks.....

Thanks for reading the 

Synon 2E and Plex Emporium by Lee Dare (A developer blog). 

Lee.

New site using Lovable AI

When I first started my no code (vibing) journey I was very very sceptical.

Now, after a few months.  I am a convert.  Some might say with the amount I go on about the blog in the office, that I am an evangelist now (or at least a pain in the arse)....

The journey was quite simple, research and choose a tool.  There are dozens to try Replit, Lovable, Emergent, Bolt, Base44 and Bubble to name a few, not to mention the more code based alternatives like Claude Code, Codex and Cursor (now owned by Elon).

If you looked at all of these tools, you'd still not really scratch the surface with what is out there.  As I embark on the journey of discovery, my mind is blown every single day and the opportunities appear endless.

I ended up choosing lovable as YouTube reviews were largely positive, it allowed custom domain and has an integration stack that allowed GitHub, hence you aren't 100% tied into their ecosystem and have full access to the code.

Once I had launched the site I then went back and worked out how much, time and money is cost me to refactor.  The graph below (directly from the portal in lovable) shows my usage spike.

You'll notice that to begin with I was using the free tier credits.  You get five credits to use over a maximum of six days in any given month.  This is more than enough to get something up and running.  For example, the OG prompt of 'refactor this the old site' was completed on the first day.

This chart shows my usage and you will clearly see the day I decided to sign up to a paid tier and unlock more credits.

I could have completed the entire project on the free plan and had it hosted on a lovable domain and this post would have been another few months away or into 2027.  There are NO features on the site that are not 100% supported by the free tier.

This second chart shows the free credits that I used.  The paid plan does give 5 free credits per day and a chosen monthly allowance.  I went with 100 credits pm for 22 quid.

In total you will see that at launch the site had required 330 credits of which 137 were free tier or the daily allowance.  This is smart IMHO, A small edit should't feel like you are being charged every time.

You will see that some days where I had more spare time I ramped up my usage to several hours per day.

Summary

Actual cost = 52.00 pounds.

Time and Effort (I reckon about 5 working days including study (videos).

If you had asked me could if I redevelop an entire site including a CMS management backend (see next post) for 52.00 nicker I would have said you were insane.  Add to this, the fact that the tool also allowed me to express creative side with the 5250 look 'n feel.  I would have laughed you out of the room.  Not any more, you have my ear!

What do you think?

Thanks for reading the 

Synon 2E and Plex Emporium by Lee Dare (A developer blog). 

Lee.