Fresh start

Hi Kris,

A couple of questions...

- What programming languages do you have experience with?

- What databases do you have experience with?

- What kinds of things do you want to develop with OpenEdge?

Brian

Hi Kris,

You may be interested in the following page (based on OpenEdge version 11.4):

documentation.progress.com/.../index.html

If needed you can find the 11.5 documentation here:

community.progress.com/.../2352.openedge-11-5-product-documentation.aspx

Please provide the answers to Brian's questions, then if needed people can provide you with additional information which is more focused to your needs.

Kris,

Do you have access to a Progress development environment? That will prove invaluable while learning.

First (well, more like 5th) Welcome to ABL. I hope you'll love it as much as we all do.

Then, as someone else mentioned, take a look at the doc. particularly, look at the ABL Essentials book - documentation.progress.com/.../introducing-abl.html .

There are also a bunch of videos and papers available on this site and YouTube.

Hi Brian,

I have experiences with C++, C#, Python, Django, PHP, Java Script, HTML, HTA, TSQL/SQL

The database MYSQL, SQL ,ORACLE and  MS Access

I was thinking about Software Developer position but I wish to start from beginning.  

Hi Donicello, Peter,

It is lots of information here It will take me a while to read it :)

Hi jmartin104,

I don't have access there. It is mean that I can't download the software for testing?

Thank you guys for help

One question I want to know How I can test my code? Where I can practice?

You can request a trial at www.progress.com/free-trial-openedge

Hi Kris,

Thanks for the info.

I agree with the person above who said to start with going through the ABL Essentials manual.  In particular, make sure you have a good understanding of how record and transaction scope work in the ABL.  We are a record oriented database instead of a set oriented database (although we do have a SQL92 engine built in for those who need it but you don't use that from the ABL).

After you go through that I would the following (not in any particular order):

Guide for New Developers...

-> documentation.progress.com/.../gsdev.pdf

Introducing the Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge Visual Designer...

-> documentation.progress.com/.../gsvis.pdf

GUI for .NET Primer...

-> documentation.progress.com/.../gsgnp.pdf

GUI for .NET Programming...

-> documentation.progress.com/.../dvngp.pdf

ABL Reference...

-> documentation.progress.com/.../dvref.pdf

You may also want to look into online training (note: it costs $1,500 per year you subscribe) but with your experience you most likely won't need it, just remember it is there if you do.

It is important to remember that OpenEdge is a product that spans old style "green screen" character mode procedural programming styles all the way up through the latest OO styles so when you read through the ABL Essentials and ABL Reference manuals you will see sample code that may look "old style" and statements/functions that don't really have much if any use in a GUI world.  Just plow on past those with the understanding that if you end up working on legacy code you may run into those things.

Personally, I would focus on getting really comfortable with Developer Studio (based on Eclipse), the OO functionality the ABL provides and the GUI for .NET world.  You should be much more at ease in that world given your background.

And remember that you can always post things here for the community to hopefully respond to and, if you have a valid maintenance contract, you can always contact Technical Support.  I work in support and we are always willing to help.

Cheers and welcome to the OpenEdge world.

Brian

Kris,

One other note...

You mentioned that you have experience in different web technologies so I wanted to mention that along with OpenEdge's abilities to generate mobile applications we also have Rollbase which is more of a cloud based mobile development product which can access OpenEdge on the back end.  Depending on your ultimate goals you may want to kick the wheels on that too (there is a free trial).

Brian