Re: RPG Cycle

James,

Modern programming techniques teach n-tier programming. Separating the
presentation layer from the application layer from the database layer from
the messaging layer, and so on.

How can you claim to be a modern language if you are using O-specs? Making
your file processes an integral part of your application program is a step
backwards.

Sure, an understanding of the cycle and its benefits is key to learning RPG.
But coding with it is no longer needed.


Trevor


On 8/20/07 4:11 PM, "James Lampert" <jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Level breaks, O-specs, and such, them's hard. I freely admit that I
haven't been able to make constructive use of them (beyond putting LR in
the "Level" column on a statement to be executed only after The Cycle
has completed). But level breaks are only part of The Cycle, and O-specs
are peripheral to it.

The concept of an implicit DO-loop enclosing the entire main program,
with implicit reads of optional primary and secondary files, controlled
either by the primary file (if used) or by explicitly setting the LR
indicator on in response to some other event (as in using The Cycle as
the event loop of an interactive program) is simplicity itself.

If a programmer undertakes to learn RPG, and can't figure out the easy
part of The Cycle, and how to make constructive use of it, he or she is
in the wrong line of work. If formal instruction in RPG fails to fully
cover level breaks and O-specs, at least in the advanced class, then
whoever designed the curriculum is in the wrong line of work.