{"id":1386,"date":"2023-01-10T08:04:50","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T08:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketaylor.synology.me\/?p=1386"},"modified":"2023-01-10T08:04:53","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T08:04:53","slug":"do-we-still-need-application-developers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketaylor.synology.me\/?p=1386","title":{"rendered":"Do we still need application developers?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I read an article<\/a> at the weekend about the ChatGPT <\/a>system, which included a link about how it might be useful for programmers<\/a>. A lot of the recent material on this service has concentrated on its use for generating plausible text – essays and the like. But I thought it might be interesting to take a quick look for myself at the coding capability. How much can be delegated; do we still need application developers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spoiler: Yes we do. But it can be useful to look a bit deeper at the good and bad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

First experiment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My first experiment was to ask it to generate a skeleton for a technology and API that I am thinking of working with in the future. What it displayed looked to be a better sample than I had been able to find with direct Google searches. Though as that Guardian piece had quoted, you had to have some idea about what you are doing first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A friend asked me how it compared to looking up something on StackOverflow. My response was that without the discussion threads underneath, it was even harder to tell whether the generated material was accurate (and, believe it or not, SO does not always give a good answer).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing an MQ application<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So I then asked it about writing an MQ application. I didn’t spend very long on devising complex scenarios; just the kind of thing someone might be asked to do as a beginner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s the transcript, followed by some thoughts on it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ChatGPT Transcript<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Me: How should I write a program to put a message to IBM MQ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GPT: To write a program to put a message to IBM MQ, you will need to do the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Install the IBM MQ Client libraries on the machine where your program will run.<\/li>
  2. Import the necessary libraries in your program. In Python, you can use import pymqi<\/code> to import the IBM MQ libraries.<\/li>
  3. Create a connection to the IBM MQ Queue Manager. You will need to provide the hostname, port number, and queue manager name for this.<\/li>
  4. Create a queue object by calling pymqi.Queue()<\/code>.<\/li>
  5. Put the message to the queue by calling the put()<\/code> method on the queue object and passing the message as an argument.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Here is an example of how this can be done in Python:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    import pymqi\n\nqueue_manager = \"QM1\"\nchannel = \"CHANNEL1\"\nhost = \"localhost\"\nport = \"1414\"\nqueue_name = \"Q1\"\n\n# Connect to the queue manager\nqmgr = pymqi.connect(queue_manager, channel, host, port)\n\n# Open the queue\nqueue = pymqi.Queue(qmgr, queue_name)\n\n# Put the message to the queue\nqueue.put(\"Hello, World!\")\n\n# Close the queue\nqueue.close()\n\n# Disconnect from the queue manager\nqmgr.disconnect()\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Me: and how about in C<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
    GPT: To put a message to IBM MQ using C, you will need to do the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    1. Install the IBM MQ Client libraries on the machine where your program will run.<\/li>
    2. Include the necessary header files in your program.<\/li>
    3. Create a connection to the IBM MQ Queue Manager. You will need to provide the hostname, port number, and queue manager name for this.<\/li>
    4. Create a queue object by calling MQOPEN()<\/code>.<\/li>
    5. Put the message to the queue by calling the MQPUT()<\/code> function and passing the message as an argument.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      Here is an example of how this can be done in C:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      #include <stdio.h>\n#include <stdlib.h>\n#include <string.h>\n#include <cmqc.h>\n\nint main(int argc, char **argv)\n{\n    MQHCONN conn;\n    MQOD objdesc = {MQOD_DEFAULT};\n    MQMD msgdesc = {MQMD_DEFAULT};\n    MQPMO putmsgopts = {MQPMO_DEFAULT};\n    MQLONG compcode;\n    MQLONG reason;\n    MQHOBJ obj;\n    char buffer[1024];\n\n    \/\/ Connect to the queue manager\n    MQCONN(\"QM1\", &conn, &compcode, &reason);\n\n    \/\/ Open the queue\n    strcpy(objdesc.ObjectName, \"Q1\");\n    MQOPEN(conn, &objdesc, MQOO_OUTPUT, &obj, &compcode, &reason);\n\n    \/\/ Put the message to the queue\n    strcpy(buffer, \"Hello, World!\");\n    MQPUT(conn, obj, &msgdesc, &putmsgopts, strlen(buffer), buffer, &compcode, &reason);\n\n    \/\/ Close the queue\n    MQCLOSE(conn, &obj, MQCO_NONE, &compcode, &reason);\n\n    \/\/ Disconnect from the queue manager\n    MQDISC(&conn, &compcode, &reason);\n\n    return 0;\n}\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
      Me: can I use Node?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      GPT: Yes, it is possible to use Node.js to put a message to IBM MQ. There are several libraries available for Node.js that provide an interface to the IBM MQ Client libraries, such as “mqlight” and “ibmmq”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      One library you can use is the “ibmmq” which provides a set of classes that wrap around the IBM MQ C client libraries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      Here’s an example of how you can use the “ibmmq” library to put a message to IBM MQ in Node.js:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      const ibmmq = require('ibmmq');\n\nconst mqQueueManager = \"QM1\";\nconst mqChannel = \"CHANNEL1\";\nconst mqHostname = \"localhost\";\nconst mqPort = 1414;\nconst mqQueue = \"Q1\";\nconst mqMessage = \"Hello, World!\";\n\n\/\/ Create a new MQI connection handle\nconst mqConn = ibmmq.open();\n\n\/\/ Connect to the queue manager\nmqConn.connect({\n    qMgr: mqQueueManager,\n    channel: mqChannel,\n    host: mqHostname,\n    port: mqPort\n});\n\n\/\/ Open the queue\nconst mqQueueDesc = {\n    ObjectName: mqQueue,\n    ObjectQMgrName: mqQueueManager\n};\n\nmqConn.openQueue(mqQueueDesc, (error, handle) => {\n    if (error) {\n        console.log(`Error: ${error}`);\n        process.exit(1);\n    }\n\n    \/\/ Put the message to the queue\n    mqConn.put(handle, {\n        buffer: mqMessage\n    }, (error) => {\n        if (error) {\n            console.log(`Error: ${error}`);\n            process.exit(1);\n        }\n        \n        \/\/ Close the queue\n        mqConn.closeQueue(handle, (error) => {\n            if (error) {\n                console.log(`Error: ${error}`);\n                process.exit(1);\n            }\n        });\n    });\n});\n\n\/\/ Disconnect from the queue manager\nmqConn.disconnect();\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
      You can also use other libraries too like “mqlight” to interact with IBM MQ, you should check the documentation and samples of that library as well and decide based on your requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      Me: how do I compile the C program<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      GPT: To compile a C program that uses IBM MQ libraries, you will need to have the IBM MQ client libraries and header files installed on your machine. You will also need a C compiler such as GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) or CLang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      Once you have the IBM MQ client libraries and header files installed, you can use the following command to compile your program:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      gcc -o <executable_name> <source_file.c> -I<path_to_mq_header_files> -L<path_to_mq_library> -lmqm\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n