© Copyright 2007 iSociety Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
12:00pm US Central Time July 11th, 2007
Angus says: Welcome to another iSociety Fireside chat. Today we have Mike Pavlak, Jon Paris and Ethan O'Rafferty talking about MySQL and PHP..
 
Angus says: Ethan is from MySQL.
Angus says: Jon and Mike are System i experts with loads of RPG and now PHP expertise to help guide us.
 
Question from Ilovei: When I have questions about My SQL in System i do I call the MySQL resources or a resource within IBM?
Eorafferty says: When you purchase MySQL Enterprise support subscriptions from IBM or an IBM reseller, you will receive instructions on contacting MySQL for L1/L2/L3 support.
Eorafferty says: Moving forward, there will be new sales and alliances contacts for you at MySQL:
Eorafferty says: WW Alliances:  Nicolas Pujol w +1 408-213-6598  nicolas@mysql.com
Eorafferty says: US/Canada channel sales: Carson Finical w +1 949-348-0440  cfinical@msql.com
Eorafferty says: EMEA channel sales:  Martyn Fildes  m +44 (780) 890 4200  mfildes@mysql.com
Eorafferty says: Japan and AsiaPac channel sales:  Mr. Hi Iwasaki  m +81 (90) 7201-8459   hi.iwasaki@mysql.com
Eorafferty says: Latin America channel sales: Iko Rein w +61 283 073 824  iko@mysql.com
 
Question from Ilovei: Why is PHP a significant announcement for System i ?
JonParis says: Multiple answers:  The number of entry-level programmers available.  The amount of free/low-cost software available.  The volume of good quality educational material .  Etc Etc.
Mikepavlak says: As a follow-on for the Net.Data contingent.
Mikepavlak says: PHP is a far more user friendly solution to develop in.
JonParis says: I would also add that for an RPG programmer the OO aspects of PHP are much easier to get your head around than (say) Java
Eorafferty says: 90% of PHP applications use MySQL.  MySQL's by far most popular connector or scripting language for MySQL.  MySQL's #1 app type is web apps.
Eorafferty says: Now System i developers can develop apps on PHP and MySQL, accessing the ubiquity of MySQL developers.  Helps with an i5/OS skills shortage.
 
Question from Alison: How many existing PHP applications are available?  and are they specific to certain types of industries?
JonParis says: Hundreds and thousands.  See HotScripts.com and SourceForge.net for just a few examples
Mikepavlak says: There is a lot of custom code out there as well.
Mikepavlak says: Industry solutions like CRM and even an ERP are coming to the forefront
JonParis says: For industry specific apps try http://www.codango.com/php/dir/webapps/industry/
 
Question from Prrgg1: I am interested in learning PHP.  Where should I start?
Mikepavlak says: Any book on PHP would be a decent place to start!
Mikepavlak says: Also, there is plenty of System i specific content at COMMON events, and System i Network.
Mikepavlak says: Consider the open source world a great place to dig up examples, as well.
JonParis says: I have used a number of books from "Spring Into PHP" to "PHP for the World Wide Web" as well as on-line resources.  The on-line "manuals" are fabulous as they include many user contributed notes.  In fact the notes can be the most useful part!
 
Question from Alison: How difficult is PHP to learn?  how long will it take and RPGer to learn?
JonParis says: The answer I often give is that I felt more at home with PHP in weeks than I did in years with Java.
JonParis says: There are challenges - for example it is tough for an RPGer to get their head around the idea of dynamically typed variables.
Mikepavlak says: The straight forward approach to PHP resembles the learning curve I remember about RPG.
 
Question from SusanG: Can we get a summary of what has been announced re: MySQL on System i?
Eorafferty says: IBM will resell MySQL Enterprise support subscriptions directly and through IBM resellers.  MySQL Enterprise, and MySQL: Community, will run on i5/OS.
Eorafferty says: Later, the System i DB2 storage engine will be a storage engine for MySQL.  This will allow new MySQL apps to use existing DB2 data, and New MySQL data to be used by existing DB2 apps.
Eorafferty says: Press release:  http://www.mysql.com/news-and-events/press-release/release_2007_06.html
 
Question from DrFranken: Why is support for MySQL syntax important for System i PHP users?
Mikepavlak says: Because of the myriad of open source applications already written to the My SQL dialect
JonParis says: It is critical to have MySQL support because it is _the_ most popular Database in the PHP world.
JonParis says: Without it many apps would require recoding and that would inhibit uptake.
Eorafferty says: also MySQL is the #3 most used database, in volume market share
Mikepavlak says: To seamlessly port an PHP application to the i without re-writing the code is attractive
 
Question from SusanG: Is the same data that is currently being accessed/maintained by DB2 on i (e.g., via RPG programs) can also be accessed/maintained by MySQL/PHP programs?  Or will databases created/maintained by MySQL be completely separate from DB2 databases?
Eorafferty says: Phase 1 will be MySQL on i5/OS - with no DB2 storage engine.
Eorafferty says: Phase 2 will include the DB2 storage engine - both apps may use and access data in the same DB2 storage engine.
 
Question from SusanG: The first part of the announcement - I assume that will run in PASE on i?
Eorafferty says: Yes, MySQL will run in PASE in Phase 1 and Phase 2
 
Question from TomSawyer: How will Phase 1 differ from what can be done today with an AIX binary and PASE? Will there be a more System i-centric installation process?
Mikepavlak says: The Phase 1 product will be QA tested and supported...
Mikepavlak says: By the MySQL folks...
Eorafferty says: and also there will be installation scripts, etc.
 
Question from davidgibbs: Can someone outline the procedure to connect a MySQL database to db2 for i5/OS?
JonParis says: Until we see what Phase 2 has to offer you will have to use ODBC or JDBC.  A PHP application can access both today.
 
Question from CraigJ: Will there be a performance hit in PHP if using mysql instead of using DB2 directly?
JonParis says: I rather suspect it will be the opposite ;-)
 
Question from Eparedes: Will there be any expanded documentation for the i5 Toolkit API's?
JonParis says: There is an ongoing experiment with the RedWiki where contributions are being solicited to improve the docs.
Mikepavlak says: The documentation in the user guide gets more detailed with each new distribution of PHP
JonParis says: The big issue right now is that the current docs have no RPG "flavor" - this is needed big time.
Mikepavlak says: But you also have a redbook and red wiki to help
 
Question from TomSawyer: Is there a public timeline for delivery on phase 1 and 2?
Eorafferty says: not yet, stay tuned!
 
Question from DrFranken: Will the addition of MySQL allow PHP applications from other platforms to run completely unchanged?
Mikepavlak says: That's the goal!
Mikepavlak says: There are 5-10 examples of that on the Zend Forum...
Mikepavlak says: Sugar CRM, Joomla and Media WIKI are out there...
Mikepavlak says: Any application written to the MySQL database 5.0 and above...
Mikepavlak says: Sorry, any PHP application...
 
Question from DrFranken: Some PHP support is available for V5R3. Will the MySQL support be made available for V5R3?
Eorafferty says: V5R4 to start with
 
Question from Alison: Does the MySQL language use the same syntax as SQL for DB2 for i5/OS?
Eorafferty says: MySQL is Core 92 SQL compliant, with some 2003 compliant SQL
 
Question from Alison: Can PHP be used for more than just Web-based applications?
JonParis says: Yes - It is great scripting language.  However, it will not be as useful as it could be until it runs "native"
Eorafferty says: and MySQL on i5/OS and with h DB2 storage engine can be used for more than juts PHP and web based apps
 
Question from Alison: Using which technologies can I interface PHP to existing RPG applications?
Mikepavlak says: i5 Toolkit that is delivered with Zendcore and has facilities for calling RPG programs, etc.
Mikepavlak says: You can pass parameters back and forth
Mikepavlak says: But please study up on your use of arrays!
 
Question from Alison: Does PHP require an Application Server in order to run?
Mikepavlak says: No.
Mikepavlak says: But....
Mikepavlak says: If you want something comparable to WAS, Zend provides the Zend Platform product
 
Question from davidgibbs: Are there any plans to 'certify' existing PHP/MySQL apps to work with the new MySQL/DB2 connector?
Eorafferty says: it's up to the ISV to certify their apps on different OS platforms and databases.  That said, said, 90% of MySQL apps are custom developed ...
 
Question from Prrgg1: Can PHP/MySQL be combined for learning purposes on Windows?
JonParis says: Re PHP on windows Yes - try downloading the XAMPP from ApacheFriends - it combines PHP, Apache and MySQL plus a bunch of other tools.  You will not be able to run the DB2 stuff and i5 stuff but it gives you a lot to play with.
Eorafferty says: Windows is a good platform for prototyping PHP/MySQL apps, but for production use on an enterprise class OS, customers would move to purchasing MySQL Enterprise support subscriptions for i5/OS.
 
Question from SusanG: I know there are differences between MySQL and DB2 on i. I’ve run into them. Are these differences documented somewhere?  Not just syntax - behavior as well.
Mikepavlak says: Answer to Susan: I'm not aware of any documentation that discusses this...
Mikepavlak says: But I bet the forums will be chock full of goodies...
 
Question from davidgibbs: Will MySQL on System i work with Perl on System i?
JonParis says: I know there are people _running_ both on System i - I don't know if they are using MySQL in that mix - I would assume that they would.  Of course there is not an "official" Perl port as of toady for the i5 so ...
 
Question from SusanG: Forums? Where are those? Midrange.com?
Mikepavlak says: Sure...
Mikepavlak says: But also check out systeminetwork.com and zend.com...
 
Question from Mikelopue: Will there be any i5 PHP certifications to look for down the road that BP's may be required to obtain?
Mikepavlak says: No current plans...
 
Question from davidgibbs: Does the i5 toolkit from Zend use the standard i5/os servers for program calls, data queue access, etc?
Eorafferty says: on forums, some MySQL stuff here:  http://systeminetwork.com/isnetforums/forumdisplay.php?f=17
JonParis says: It uses the same underlying APIs as the Java toolkit - if you are familiar with that you will notice the similarities .
 
Question from Mikelopue: I'm leery on using i5 PHP API's in my PHP scripts, this keeps my application strictly i5 based.  Should an effort be put forth to try to use current PHP technologies instead?
Eorafferty says: and on Forum's MySQL stuff here:  http://systeminetwork.com/isnetforums/showthread.php?t=48041
Mikepavlak says: IMHO: Unless you are software company, what's the harm in land-locking your code for i5?
Mikepavlak says: Last RPG program I wrote was tuned specifically for the i  ;-)
 
Question from Ilovei: Is there training available for PHP and MySQL ?
Eorafferty says: yes:  http://www.mysql.com/training/courses/developing_dynamic_webapp.html
Eorafferty says: Zend IBM and COMMON also has classed
 
Question from TomSawyer: Those new PHP/MySQL programmers that you want to entice to the System i aren't going to want to trade freedom for System i specific coding.
JonParis says: A number of people are offering training including myself - at conferences and on-site
Mikepavlak says: IMHO (again) I find the opportunity of the developer being portable more attractive than the application...
JonParis says: The newbies will understand the notion of functional isolation (probably much better than their RPG contemporaries) it should not be rocket science to isolate the i5 specific pieces
 
Angus says: Thanks to everyone for being here today.
Angus says: Thanks to Jon, Mike and Ethan for being our guests.
Eorafferty says: Thank you for your time.  See above MySQL contacts for sales, technical and other questions.
JonParis says: Thanks for the ?s - see you on another chat some time in the future
Mikepavlak says: had a great time!
Angus says: Look for our next fireside chat at iSociety.org - see you there!
 
Jon Paris, Mike Pavlak, and
Ethan O’Rafferty
Held: July 11th, 2007
          12:00pm Central US time
Note: edited for spelling