While rereading my old blog, I came across a passage dated February 8, 2021: some programs developed in the System/38 era were still running at my workplace. Not all of them, I had carefully added.
The System/38 was the predecessor to the AS/400 I love. When I joined the company in 1986, a migration from another computer to the System/38 was in full swing. The team needed every spare pair of hands. In that old post, I described myself as the extra pair they had recruited.
That extra pair of hands has acquired quite a few years of experience. Meanwhile, some programs from the System/38 days were still doing their jobs in 2021. They were rather senior colleagues!
If every hardware generation meant rebuilding the entire business system, a long history would become an ever-growing burden. At my workplace, there was another possibility: carrying earlier work forward onto later generations. That continuity is one reason I remain so fond of the AS/400.
A technical note from today’s perspective: IBM documentation also describes compatibility that can allow programs written for the System/38 to run on successor hardware. This does not mean every program will run unconditionally in every environment.
And being able to run is different from meeting today’s needs. When the business changes, make the necessary changes. Improve what is awkward to use. Make the code understandable to the next person. Looking back now, I think long life makes those continuing judgments more important.
Keep what is useful and change what needs changing. I appreciate being able to use years of work as a foundation for the next job.
That foundation certainly helped the extra pair of hands who arrived in 1986. To those senior colleagues in software: thank you for your long service.
Adapted from my February 8, 2021 post, “The Future of AS/400.” Its account of running programs describes that time; their status in 2026 has not been verified.
Technical background: IBM Redbooks (2014), section 1.5 and chapter 7