Re: CVTILERPG

["postmaster" <shc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

//--- forwarded letter -------------------------------------------------------
> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; I)
> Date: Tue, 24 Feb 98 19:50:31 -0500
> From: "Booth Martin" <boothm@ibm.net>
> To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Reply-To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Subject: Re: CVTILERPG

> 
> Wait a second... EVAL division changes the length of  fields?   If I do an 
>EVAL
> dividing Annual Profit by Annual Sales, times 100 to get a percent, will I be
> getting a 10-decimal answer?
> 

This is not just EVAL and RPG IV.  All programming languages that support 
arithmetic expressions 
have this 'problem' with division.  It is all to do with the intermediate 
precision used by the 
compiler and is based on the result of evaluating each component in the 
expression.  There is a 
complete section in Chapter 21 of the RPG IV Reference Manual describing this.

In general use the precision of intermediary results in EVAL is only a 
consideration for division 
operations.

There was an intention to provide a form of programmer control over the 
precision via a keyword on 
the H-spec.  I don't know if this was ever implemented.

There is a technical writer sitting somewhere in Toronto muttering "Why do I 
bother, no-one reads 
the manual anyway!".

Regards,
Simon Coulter.

//----------------------------------------------------------
// FlyByNight Software         AS/400 Technical Specialists
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