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Joe Pluta wrote:
How is fixed format holding back programming? RPG IV added real
functionality, from procedures to ILE interoperability to a whole slew
of BIFs. Those were real enhancements. What does /free add that gets
RPG into "this centuries programming model(s)"?
/free breaks you free from the limited number of characters available
for variable names. At first that doesn't seem like a big deal, but
consider something like qualified data structures and their fields:
mydatastruct.myfield
won't fit in factor 1. To use such a field you need free format code
(unless you use the "loose fixed format" of eval+extended factor 2). Or
consider something like the C contruct of pointer referencing within a
struct:
MyStruct->structmember
The "->" is not allowed in fixed format, though I suppose the rules
could be changed to allow it.
Though not really due to fixed format but related, some bifs could
benefit to a similar relaxing of format, like %editc. It might be nice
to have user selected editing via a method like:
characterfield = %editc(numericfield:get_user_edit_pref(parm))
Further, I'm not sure of how well fixed format handles function calls
with other functions as parameters since I haven't tried. I would be
surprised if it were as neat as:
myfunction (parm1, parm2, anotherfunction(parm3, parm4))
James Rich
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