The "Programmer In A Box" concept was originally to standardize the repetitive coding that often builds up in a system. To this end tools were created to assist the iSeries professional with the mundane tasks leaving more time for the more complicated 'fun' stuff. These tools made it easy to build list/selection screens and file maintenance applications, even a generic file editor.

Over the past 15 years it has been expanded to include utilities to automate FTP, email, NTP time syncronization, socket connectivity and the list continues to grow.