RE: An odd thing -- MIDRANGE-L

It's sad to hear that a shop would look down upon using the cycle and be   
so close-minded that you would be fired if you used it in production.   
 (You may have been exaggerating, but still...)  Using the basics of the   
cycle is easy.  For example reading a file, or doing level breaks.  I   
would much rather code level breaks with the cycle than by hand.  One   
must learn to cherry-pick the best parts of the cycle to use to make your   
job easier.

One thing I have started doing on level breaks is this:

CL1  EXSR $L1
CL2  EXSR $L2
etc...

this seperates things and doesn't clutter the code witht he left handed   
indicators.

Here's another example... Which is easier to read?

A)  simple example with no cycle

C   READ FILE   69
C   DOW (not *IN69)
C   WRITE OUTPUT
C   READ  FILE   69 
C    ENDDO

B) same example using cycle

C   WRITE OUTPUT

It speaks for itself in most cases.


 ----------
From:  Bruce Guetzkow
Sent:  Wednesday, December 31, 1997 10:03 AM
To:  bvstone
Subject:  RE: An odd thing


Paul:

Just a few comments about the RPG cycle -

1)  It is unique to RPG.  No other language that I know of has this =
inherent cycle.  One can "easily" (relatively) convert programs from =
COBOL to FORTRAN to BASIC to (pick-your-favorite).  But to convert =
to/from RPG using the cycle takes special knowledge (job security?) that   
=
only RPG programmers have.  Even those of us that no longer use the =
cycle for processing, still use the cycle for file opens/closes (at =
least some of us do), so there is still some RPG-specific knowledge =
required, but far less, making RPG programs much more convertible and =
understandable for non-RPG programmers.  (BTW...I don't use indicators =
in the left-hand columns either, no matter how many of those old =
programs still have my name on them!)

2)  The RPG cycle isn't the easiest thing to learn.  It took me a week =
to figure out how to get the date and time on page 1 of a report using =
the cycle and the 1P indicator.  I had to call a friend and he had to =
_tell_ me...I never did figure it out on my own!

3)  Having said the above, I _do_ use the cycle for one-time programs =
that do _not_ go into production.  Using the cycle for production =
programs here is "verboten"...the quickest one-way-ticket to the =
unemployment line I know of!

The cycle had its place, but I think that place is now in the past.

Bruce Guetzkow
Team Coordinator, Applications Development
Highsmith Inc.
W5527 Highway 106 P.O. Box 800
Fort Atkinson, WI  53538-0800
Tel (920) 563-9571  Fax (920) 563-7395
EMAIL bguetzkow@highsmith.com


Bradley V. Stone
bvstone@taylorcorp.com
http://prairie.lakes.com/~bvstone/
"I was on fire... and I was dry!"  
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