I'd like to expand a bit on my previous posting.
Tasking the Ask
A couple of thoughts I should have made clear in describing asking Bob for work
- The "ask" for Bob (see above) can be a fairly complex assignment, something like, "Write me an RPG program that does this and that, complete with documentation and test cases."
- Bob requires permissions to write to the file system, though you can grant blanket permission during a session.
The Intriguing Nature of Bob's Error
In my previous posting, I described Bob giving a wrong name to a file and how that situation played out when I pointed out the mistake.
It's interesting to speculate on the cause of the original error.
If I am inferring correctly, the task list is effectively a branching tree structure or graph in which nodes are being added, deleted, and edited as the task list is executed and modified in light of user feedback when Bob prompts the user back during the execution.
Apparently in the scenario I described, Bob at some point works out a naming scheme where such a scheme is required. However, the logic by which that naming scheme is arrived it is "scratch", perhaps the output of a tool. The logic by which the tool arrived at the name is influenced by Bob at the call level, but this tool logic is not fully back-propagated into the context, only the outcome, i.e., the filename. The reasoning leading to the specific names disappears from context.
Later, Bob might repeat similar steps towards the naming scheme and arrive at a slightly different conclusion, leading to skew between the original naming scheme and the one freshly arrived at.
This is a kind of error that we are all familiar with in our human minds! We do things because "we tend to do them that way", and if we forget specifically what we did, we can work it out by asking "what we must have done".
For example, we file away a document or code example somewhere on our disk storage, then later we can't remember where we put it or what we named it, but we work out what we typically would have done in similar circumstances. We eventually find the file in that fashion, perhaps trying a few likely filenames that sound like what we would have named it against the locate tool or some such search tool until we find what we lost.
From this experience I infer that Bob's agentic reasoning process, while simpler than our own reasoning process, reveals a fairly close analogy to our own when the nature of the errors to which that agentic reasoning process is prone is examined closely.
------------------------------
Jack Woehr
Senior Consultant
Seiden Group LLC
Beulah CO
3038478442
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: Fri October 10, 2025 02:18 PM
From: Jack Woehr
Subject: Hi everyone - I'm Bob!
It's worth noting that, in contrast to what we've seen in the past with code assistants that offered some or much support for RPG, Bob implements a next-level-up vibe coding metaphor of tasking. Bob doesn't just try to generate (or diagram, etc.) code, Bob
- factors the user "ask" into a task list
- gets the user to approve the task list
- begins to execute the tasks getting user confirmation at each step
- describes each action being taken to implement the step
- checks the tasks off as completed
- reports on completing of all tasks
- responds to user corrections by refactoring the task list and repeating the process until the user was satisfied.
The point at which I was most impressed by the system prompts was a point which many may see as trivial, but struck me as significant mark of excellence in the Bob stack:
- Bob misnamed a file.
- I pointed this out.
- Bob renamed the file using the unix
mv command which moves the file target to a new name or location. - Bob then proceeded through its tasks to correct the project documentation noting the new file name.
- Now here comes the impressive part
- Bob went back and tried to delete the original file, which of course was no longer in existence as the
mv command had moved the file. - Bob noted the file was missing and said something like, "Let me search through my context and see what happened"
- Bob figured out that the file had been moved, reported that discovery, decided there was actually no error to report, and marked the step as completed!
Now that was smooth.
------------------------------
Jack Woehr
Senior Consultant
Seiden Group LLC
Beulah CO
3038478442
Original Message:
Sent: Fri October 10, 2025 09:59 AM
From: gautam ghosh
Subject: Hi everyone - I'm Bob!
This looks really exciting! I can totally see how something like Project Bob can make life easier for developers. The focus on automation and incremental builds is a step towards modern DevOps practices.
------------------------------
gautam ghosh
Lead Quality Automation Engineer
BMC Software India Pvt. Ltd.
Original Message:
Sent: Tue October 07, 2025 03:29 PM
From: Ask Bob
Subject: Hi everyone - I'm Bob!
Get early access to Project Bob
The waitlist is now open. Tell us what problem you're going to solve with Bob, and we can get you to the front of the waitlist!
I'm IBM's open, modern build tool - though you might also know me as Project Bob. I'm free, open source, and proudly hosted on IBM's GitHub. My job? To help you build native "QSYS" objects efficiently, reliably, and flexibly.
What makes me special?
Incremental builds: I only recompile what's necessary - just the objects that changed or depend on something that did.
Dependency awareness: I understand how your objects relate to each other, so I automatically rebuild everything impacted by a change. Fewer errors, fewer headaches.
Standard tooling: I'm built on GNU Make - the same foundation used across countless ecosystems - and I play nicely with Git and other version control systems.
Configurable & extensible: You can tweak compile parameters, write custom build recipes, and shape me to fit your application's unique needs.
Easy to use: You can build your entire codebase with one simple command - or even one click if you've integrated me into RDi.
Why I matter right now
IBM i development is evolving. Manual compilation and one-off scripts have worked for decades, but they're not built for today's DevOps workflows. I'm part of IBM's mission to modernize the IBM i ecosystem - bringing you automation, consistency, and the best practices developers everywhere now expect.
------------------------------
Ask Bob
------------------------------
#pinnedtotop