An introduction to the IBM AS/400

IBM i | August 12, 2011

I spoke at HAR2009.

At the Hacking At Random (HAR) conference, I gave a presentation introducing IBM’s AS/400 system. The talk was aimed at people who were unfamiliar with the AS/400, as well as those who simply wanted to understand what makes this system so unique and how it works.

The presentation began with a brief historical overview of this remarkable platform, followed by a technical introduction to the core concepts that define IBM i:

• Technology-independent Machine Interface (MI)
• Integrated database
• Object-based design
• Single-level store

The talk then covered the fundamentals of working with the system, providing an introduction to its architecture and day-to-day operation.

I have made the slides and accompanying paper from the presentation available for direct download below.

• Slides
• Paper