RE: Reasons for using RPGIV

Having been out yesterday, I'm late to this discussion, but want to add to
it.

If her only argument is that all code should be written in RPG/400 because
JDE is written in RPG/400, that's pretty lame. Here 99% of our code is in
RPG II (package migrated from S/36 years ago). It was 100% until I got
here, including consultants that wrote new stuff - in RPG II!

I have worked in a similar environment (as some of you may remember). Most
of the time I just fixed or modified an RPG II program, but many times I
wrote an RPG IV program that the RPG II called. No problems so I can't
imagine that putting a call into an RPG/400 program would be a problem
either. Plus I mix CL/OCL and RPG II/IV in job streams. So what is the
problem with RPG/400?

As I tell people, there is not a thing in RPG II that you cannot do in RPG
III, but there's a lot more you can do in III. But there's not a thing you
can do in III that you cannot do in IV and there's a hell of a lot more that
you can do in IV.

Finally, when was the last PTF for /400? 1996? 1997? I forget, but I know
that, if you report a defect for RPG/400/III, IBM will say something like,
"Well, ain't that special. Guess you better move into the 21st century -
because we don't PTF /400 any more."

Jerry C. Adams
IBM i Programmer/Analyst
Margaret Mead was a good role model, but she may not have looked good in a
swimsuit. - Leonard Horne, Miss America Pageant director
--
A&K Wholesale
Murfreesboro, TN
615-867-5070


-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of sjl
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 4:55 PM
To: rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Reasons for using RPGIV

I am involved in a philosophical argument with one of the lead developers in

the JDE/Oracle V5R4 shop where I have been working as a consultant for the
last five years.

If I understand her correctly, her argument is that as a JDE shop that we
should NOT be using RPGIV at all, and that we should be writing /all/ code
in RPG/400. I don't necessarily disagree, in the case of simple mods to an
existing JDE program, but I would argue that /all/ new development should be

done in free-form RPGIV.

Background:
We currently have a mixture of OPM and RPGIV code.

Some of the RPGIV is programs that have simply been run through CVTRPGSRC to

convert them to fixed-form ILE source, other RPGIV code includes several
including entire sub-systems which have been written entirely in free-form
RPGIV utilizing service programs and binding source.

Other than hitting the RPG/400 compiler limits on the number of arrays,
tables, and files (which necessitates converting the program to RPGIV in
order for it to compile successfully), she wants me to present five
compelling reasons to justify the use of RPGIV, particularly free-form RPGIV

code.

Any thoughts? I need ammunition!

- sjl