IBM Merlin powered by Arcad

What is IBM Merlin?

IBM Merlin (Modernization Engine for Lifecycle Integration) is a strategic platform enabling IBM i (alias AS/400 ou AS400) customers to modernize both their heritage applications and development processes via DevOps. Merlin was built on Red Hat OpenShift to take advantage of a modern Hybrid Cloud world.

Interview with Steve Sibley about MERLIN by Philippe Magne

What are the key benefits of Merlin for IBM i Customers?

Merlin allows IBM i applications to realize the value of hybrid cloud and multi-platform CI/CD pipelines. The modernization tooling within Merlin helps IBM i developers to create next generation applications leveraging the existing investment in traditional systems often written in RPG & Cobol. RESTful interface connections and enterprise messaging technologies allow developers to add new business value to IBM i applications.

Merlin offers some key advantages to IBM i developers:

Access to industry standard DevOps tools (e.g. Git, Jenkins, VS Code etc) enabling common development tooling across platforms
Automated Modernization of old Fixed Format RPG into modern Free Format
Modern Cloud based IDE – develop across multiple platforms using the industry standard VS Code
Application Discovery and Analysis – increase developer productivity
Reduce the learning curve with industry standard modern tooling enabling your next generation developers
Intuitive UI with auto-complete, syntax highlighting, debugging, and more…
Secure deployment of IBM i applications and infrastructure
Vast ecosystem of extensions – add functionality for multiple languages and frameworks

Why use Merlin?

“Traditional” IBM i developers can more rapidly and easily adopt VS Code, Git, CI/CD and concurrent development with the fewest possible changes in their daily processes.
Developers “new to IBM i” reduce their learning curve and enable them to contribute to RPG development and access the DB2 database.

Learn more

Today, ARCAD extensions offer the following features:

ARCAD Builder – or ‘smart’ build

ARCAD Builder uses the ARCAD metadata repository to recompile all dependencies automatically. No makefiles or scripts to maintain – Cross-references are updated in real time. As soon as a developer starts to use Merlin (integrated ARCAD functionality), all of the build infrastructure is created automatically, enabling a personal build and then an easy integration into a shared branch.

ARCAD Transformer RPG

ARCAD Transformer RPG – on-the-fly code RPG conversion to modern Free Form syntax

ARCAD Observer

ARCAD Observer application analysis functionality available directly in the code, at the developer’s fingertips:

instant impact analysis down to source line and field level using ARCAD cross-references
“CodeLens” feature using the ARCAD metadata repository – revealing file declarations, procedure declarations, procedure usage, and more

CI/CD

CI/CD – Seamless IBM i automation from the developer’s codespace. That is, as the developer is working in his/her codespace, any actions which require IBM i functionality are automatically invoked – for example:

Merlin transparently creates a library for each new branch, making “concurrent development” with Git on IBM i extremely easy-to-use
an entire pipeline can be triggered as soon as a change is pushed to a repository: something as simple as a single compile, or multiple steps with things like code quality, third party vulnerability scanning, reporting, unit and regressions testing all without developer intervention.

Powered by ARCAD technology for IBM i, the Merlin platform helps software developers realize the value of hybrid cloud and multi-platform DevOps implementation.
Merlin allows you to automate and optimize an intelligent build while accelerating your CI/CD cycle.
The tool also exposes native IBM i functions as RESTful interfaces and manages your enterprise message technologies.
With a browser-based IDE and Red Hat CodeReady workspaces, your new developers can start to bridge the talent gap by taking advantage of modern tooling and a familiar environment.

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