RE: free form RPG reference

Hi Lim,

<snip>
I'm planning on requesting management approval for using free form RPG
in our application.  Does anybody has any reference materials about
benefit of using free form and may be a quick guide of syntax of free
form that I can use?
</snip>


I'm a bit late to this particular party, but I can offer some information
you may need when considering the move to /free:

Firstly, the IBM certification for the "IBM Certified Specialist - eserver
i5 iSeries RPG ILE Programmer" test has the following requirements:- 

 Recommended background and experience

    * At least three to five years performing a broad range of RPG design
and programming activities, with a working knowledge of RPG.
    * Advanced knowledge of keywords and their function.
    * 18 months experience with ILE.
    * The ability to program using /free form.

(you can find it here:
http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/certs/a4csi5rpgile.shtml)

If you don't code in /free you will struggle to get certification from IBM.
I have sat the test and you definitely do need to know /free to pass. Like
all aspects of computing - standards are everything. It would appear that
/free is the new RPG standard - as you can't get certification without it!

Secondly, it is easier to use. I have used /free for a while (years), but I
have moved to a new job (on the other side of the world - in Australia) and
they don't use /free here (my workplace, not Oz). I have had to re-learn the
old fixed-format style. I must say, although it hasn't caused me too much
grief, I do miss the ease in which I can code in freeform RPG. Also, given
that I also code in java, I find it easier to use freeform RPG when writing
application code that uses both languages. It feels a more natural way to
code.

Finally, I work with xml a lot (xml xsd, xsl, xslt, blah, blah) in RPG and
using a nested DS to represent xml content is commonplace (I was writing
some just this afternoon for a SOAP body). These data-structures usually
have field names exactly the same as the equivalent xml elements (just makes
sense). I find working with these constructs painful in fixed format as the
field names themselves can go over three lines. A very simple eval statement
can be over six lines long! So, if you are planning to use your RPG to work
with xml you should seriously consider moving to freeform RPG. In fact I'd
consider it a very big reason to migrate (I will be using it myself soon.
:-) ).
  
Cheers

Larry Ducie