Happy New Year 2026 to you all

New Years is one of my favorite times of year, as we are filled with the excitement for what 2026 will bring us all.

Before we put our feelings and thoughts of 2025 behind us, what did you find interesting last year? These were the top ten popular posts from last year:

1. Version 7.6 announced
2. SDA is not available in IBM i 7.6
3. Simple way to check if a file exists in the IFS
4. Identifying code that could fail the 2039 problem
5. Quickest way to determine which day of the week today is
6. I was today's years old when I learned...
7. New SQL procedure to end multiple jobs
8. New built in functions %HIVAL and %LOVAL
9. New SQL scalar functions to generate UUID
10. How to create a logical file with data from more than one member

If you have any favorite posts I wrote last year, that is not one of the above, please post a link to them in the comments below. I am really interested to learn how you use my work.

What do I think will happen in the IBM i world in 2026?

Last year IBM Power11 servers were announced, and a new release of IBM i, 7.6, was made. I do not think there will be a Power12 or version 7.7 announcement in 2026. Although IBM i 7.4 will be going into "extended support" this year (if your sever can host IBM i 7.5 you need to starting making plans to move to it sooner rather than later).

There will be two new Technology Refreshes, of course, one in the Spring and the other in the Fall for IBM i 7.5 and 7.6.

There are a number of anniversaries this year:

• 67 years:  First iteration of the RPG programming language
• 38 years:  AS/400 server and OS/400 operating system
• 31 years:  RPGLE (ILE RPG) programming language
• 25 years:  Free form calculations only in RPG
• 13 years:  Free form definitions in RPG
• 11 years:  Totally free form RPG.

2026 will be is this blog's thirteenth anniversary too!

Today I always like to do two toasts. The first to all that happened in the year behind us, and the second the year in front of us. I hope you will join me in both toasts, with your favorite beverage. All I know is whatever happens in 2026 I will write about it here!