Re: Viewing CL and RPG loops -- CODE400-L

CODE/400 is a great tool that I have said previously I can testify to its
power and features.  I use it all the time and I would never want to think
of replacing CODE/400 with RPG Alive.  I realize it's already there for RPG
III and unfree RPG IV as Rob mentioned because I do use it.  But the "it"
that I think we are both referring to is the View -> Indent feature that
splits the screen in two, not the interactiveness.  Yeah, I should have
said, "... better way", not "... a way" for RPG III.  I can deal with the
View -> Indent.  I use CL frequently because it is easy to read and legacy
code of our production system has CL as the control language for calling
and setting up one, two, or many programs at once.  On occasion I have even
written a CL without any RPG at all.  Of course, the new version of
production is ASSET ODW without any CLs (not by choice).  If I were to use
/free on my RPGIV more like some people, maybe I would use CL programs less
on new development.  There are times when APIs and overrides should be done
in the RPG though.  Of course, all my new RPG development is RPG IV which
always makes sense over RPG III.

Viewing CL indented is the main fix I would like to see but I can live
without it if a majority of IBM customers don't think this is a high
priority.  I have no idea how long it might take to make the control
statement views interactive but knowing how RPG Alive works might speed the
development of this option in CODE/400.  Of course I can live without any
of these features, but I'm sure people like Scott know how addictive the
features of other tools can be.

Interesting information on the pricing and security.  Makes sense to me.  I
appreciate the responses.

Thanks,
Craig


From: Scott Mildenberger <Smildenber@Washcorp.com>
To: "'code400-l@midrange.com'" <code400-l@midrange.com>
Subject: RE: Viewing CL and RPG loops
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 08:30:30 -0700
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Craig,

I just want to mention what we have found, and we have both RPG Alive and
Code/400.  RPG Alive is nice and works great for what it does but it cannot
be compared to Code/400.  We have switched to Code/400 and don't miss RPG
Alive at all.  While it would be nice to see the levels while editing it
isn't a big deal to look at the indent view in Code/400 if you need to.
Sure, if they added the functionality to Code/400 it would be great but I
wouldn't put it on top of my priority list.  Regarding point 1 - You state
that RPG Alive increases your productivity, Code/400 increases it a lot
more.  Don't know about point 2 but then we bought Code/400 when it cost
extra.  By the way, it isn't really free it is just that all the
development
tools are now bundled together.  And point 3, if the network goes down you
don't lose anything because you are editing locally on your PC all the time
anyway.  If necessary you can save it to your local disk until the network
is available again.  Also, Code/400 has an auto-save feature that
periodically saves your work for you in case you have a problem with your
PC.

Opinions from a very satisfied Code/400 user,

Scott Mildenberger

> -----Original Message-----
> From: craigs@dekko.com [mailto:craigs@dekko.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 8:21 AM
> To: code400-l@midrange.com
> Subject: Viewing CL and RPG loops
Subject: Re: Viewing CL and RPG loops
To: code400-l@midrange.com
Message-ID: <OFE1F71079.3F7AC247-ON05256AF6.00586C8C@dekko-1>
From: rob@dekko.com
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 11:23:00 -0500
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Craig,

It's already there for RPG III.  I had to go check since I don't use that
dead language.

It's not there for CL.  Would be nice.  But with the use of API's and
whatnot I find my use of CL dropping rapidly.  But that is my personal
opinion.  Yes it would be nice to see it there for CL.

One thing I find nice about the RpgAlive is the interactiveness of it.  You
so much as comment out an EndIf and all the indenting lines change.  No
need to refresh or do another View, Indent.

I don't think IBM would hurt the RpgAlive people that much.  There are some
people who will give up SEU when they peel it out of their cold, dead
hands.  You know the type.

They are charging for Code/400.  It is part of 5722WDS.  Will they every
unbundle the products again?  Although there is some clamoring from the
development community that if all someone uses is RPG and PDM then they
paid a larger fee to upgrade from prior to the bundling to the bundling.
(I may have totally bungled this - getting close to lunch.)  I hope they
don't unbundle.  Sure is nice to have that FREEdom of choice.  Gee if I've
purchased the bundle, wouldn't they have to give me all the separate
products if they ever unbundled it again?  So that cost would be covered.
But maintenance might be a separate issue.

Rob Berendt

==================
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin



                    craigs@dekko.com
                    Sent by:                 To:     code400-l@midrange.com
                    code400-l-admin@mi       cc:
                    drange.com               Fax to:
                                             Subject:     Viewing CL and
RPG loops

                    10/31/2001 10:20
                    AM
                    Please respond to
                    code400-l






Is there any talk of adding functionality to CODE/400 for viewing CL and
RPG III loops so we can see levels?  This is very important because this
becomes a major turning point between using CODE/400 and buying the full
version of RPG Alive at www.rpgalive.com.  Rob mentioned RPG Alive in his
discussion of viewing indented /free /endfree.  You can download a free
30-day trial version at www.rpgalive.com.  RPG Alive indicates EXSR, BEGSR,
ENDSR, GOTO, CALL, comments, indicators, etc with meaningful icons in
addition to indicating loops with vertical lines and using different colors
for different loop types.  Forgot that MONMSG loop in your CL?  RPG Alive
is already on top of it.  Since RPG Alive is a PC interface like CODE/400
and takes less than a minute to install with about 640K total size, why
can't CODE/400 do this and fit it in its 1GB size?  I suppose if you were
to add that to CODE/400, Profound Logic Software, Inc  would probably have
financial trouble since they charge for RPG Alive.  Maybe IBM could buy out
RPG Alive in addition to adding CODE/400 functionality.  That way if
someone does work on a different PC (ex: home pc) without CODE/400, they
could still see the loops after installing the tiny RPG Alive piece.

Long-term related questions:
1. Will CODE/400 ever have the same functionality that RPG Alive has in any
service pack after 3?  I could see a significant productivity advantage for
RPG Alive.  If we had RPG Alive, I would probably switch to it if I want to
see control statements in CL or RPG III but still use CODE/400 for most
other functions.  I can testify to the unmatched power and features of
CODE/400 as well as the many different ways of getting CODE/400 technical
support.
2. Are there future plans to start charging for CODE/400?  Is IBM hoping to
addict all their customers to CODE/400 by making it free and then charge an
arm and a leg when everyone is happy with it?  I am assuming and I am sure
hoping SEU will never go away.
3. Is there any plan to make CODE/400 as secure as SEU to where the network
goes down and you can recover to exactly what you had before?

Thanks,
Craig Strong

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