Re: Extract number from character field(Perl syntax) (wayy offtopic)

Couldn't resist commenting... ;-)

----- Original Message -----
From: <boldt@ca.ibm.com>

>>First, I don't consider RPG to be big at all.  Languages I would consider
>>to be "big" would be C, BASIC, Pascal, FORTRAN and COBOL.  There
>>are some other languages that a "big" but not quite as much, such as ADA,
>>LISP, Forth and the like.

>I wouldn't consider Pascal big anymore.

Fortran? Cobol? C'Mon- get with the (late) 90s! C++, numerous visual
builders (VB, VC++, PB VAJ), SQL, Java, etc... (meant only in fun- I'm not
interested in debating whether or not COBOL is really big or not.)

>>But, a non Perl programming looking at Perl has absolutely no idea
>>what is going on.

>To repeat, someone who doesn't know RPG wouldn't have
>a clue either when looking at an RPG program for the
>first time.

That's for sure. I've seen what I assume to be RPG code in News/400 and I
can't tell it apart from hieroglyphics.

>>If someone wants to learn Java they have some knowledge they can
>>take with them, their understanding of C, Pascal and similar languages.
>>But, learning Perl is a whole new story.  I program a little bit in Perl,
>>but I do not enjoy it in the least.  Just as I used to program in APL, but
>>I don't enjoy it.

>Here's where you and I really differ.  I find Perl a
>lot of fun.  Using Perl, you can write very powerful
>programs in a very short time.

I haven't used Perl in a few years. But when I did use it, I picked up for
the first time and within a couple of days I had written some scripts that
checked an entire projects source code for coding standards, unused
variables, etc., and that was in my spare time. I don't know much about
programming it for CGI, but as a parsing utility I found it very useful. Of
course, I had lots of Unix experience before I ever started with it. I must
say though, a book and handy reference card are essential.

>BTW, just so no one thinks I'm being unfaithful to
>RPG, I don't see Perl replacing RPG for business
>applications.  Lack of good decimal arithmetic alone
>will prevent that.

I agree. I think Java is taking a strong foothold, but I may be biased.

Luther

+---
| This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---