Re: STFW Replies

Wow Joe!  That's reading an awful lot into the simple suggestion that Booth
check out the online manuals!  Was there something wrong with offering that
piece of advice? Many people had already offered the answer on the correct
way to use that BIF, why would I have wanted to repeat that advice?

I'm a huge believer in the biblical adage:  "Give a man a fish and he'll eat
for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime.".  I always
prefer to show someone how they can find the answer on their own, where
possible, rather than just regurgitate the answer for them from a book they
could have looked in on their own if they'd thought of it.  I have an intern
I work with who is always pestering me to give him the answer to whatever
his current problem is because he doesn't want to take the time to look it
up.  I never do that. I always tell him how he can find the answer and where
to look, and when necessary, help him in subtle ways to discover the
solution on his own. That way he remembers it the next time. (That's the
theory any way....).  Same thing here.  If Booth's question had been
something like,  "Is it possible to substring the middle 3 characters one
variable into the last three characters of the first variable?",  I probably
would have answered "yes and given him an example".  But a question such as,
"How do I substring the middle 3 characters from one variable intot he last
three characters of another variable?" is a perfect opportunity to point out
that the solution can be found online in just a few moments.  "Give versus
Teach".

But that's just my opinion.

 I'm wondering why you felt the need to take this so personally on Booth's
behalf when he didn't seem to object to it particuarly.

Ah well...many people make the world go round....

Shannon O'Donnell


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <rob@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries" <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 11:41 AM
Subject: Re: STFW Replies


> Joe,
>
> I don't think we were displaying an 'attitude'.  Perhaps he didn't know
> the manuals were online.  Evidently by all the responses, some people have
> a problem with the manuals.
>
> Rob Berendt
> -- 
> "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
> safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
> Benjamin Franklin
>
>
>
>
>
> Joe Giusto <jgiusto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent by: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> 08/18/2003 03:58 PM
> Please respond to RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
>
>         To:     RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
> <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>         cc:
>         Fax to:
>         Subject:        STFW Replies
>
>
> Must we start this STFW / RTFM thread again.  Mr. Martin is obviously not
> a
> newbie, and as I have seen it has provided useful help on many occasions.
> So he needed a reminder on a substring or replace syntax (which, by the
> way,
> I used the %replace so infrequently that I have to re-look it up almost
> every time I have a need to use it [laugh if you must]).  Would it have
> been
> so hard to just give the answer and move on?  Or to just ignore the
> message
> if you thought it did not warrant a response in your opinion.  Perhaps
> (and
> most probably) I am reading the wrong tone into your reply.  If so, I most
> humbly apologize in advance.
>
> OTOH, I saw a number of methods to handle the same task from the replies
> that I have read so far so it proved to be a useful question IMHO.
>
>
>  -----Original Message-----
> From:            Shannon O'Donnell [mailto:sodonnell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent:            Monday, August 18, 2003 1:08 PM
> To:              RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
> Subject:                 Re: replacing characters using %subst
>
> Booth,
>
> You may want to check the online IBM manuals for questions such as these.
> These books are great resources for just this type of question.
>
>
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/iseries/v5r1/ic2924/info/rzahgrpgcode.htm#rpgi
>
> le
>
>
>
> Shannon O'Donnell
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Booth Martin" <Booth@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 11:51 AM
> Subject: replacing characters using %subst
>
>
> >
> >
> >  Another simple question for which I don't know the answer.
> >
> > Lets say I want to substring characters 3 through 8 from the string
> > abcdefghijklmnopqrst and put those characters in position  13 through 18
> of
> > a field named FIELD2 which is large enough.
> >
> > C     eval    FIELD2 = ???  what goes here?
> >
>
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