Re: "Webulating" RPG

** Reply to note from qappdsn@ibm.net Wed, 25 Feb 1998 01:51:54 -0800

> I'm old...I need glasses..I couldn't read 40 lines on my 15" monitor.  The 
>other day I

Then get a bigger monitor.

> > What if you could improve the functionality of the editor by extending it
> > with your own functions?
>   
> Please elaborate.  What's beyond copy,move,delete,insert,scn/rpl?  I'm not 
>really trying
> to be a hard case..I'm genuinely curious.

Let's see, you can have the editor tag lines with your signature in the
first five positions, handy for tracking changes. One of the nicest macros
that comes with Code/400 builds a cross reference of all the subroutines in
a program and where they are called from. It pops the graphic up, and you
click on a subr or a call and jump to that place in the source. Very nice
when you are looking for all the calls to a subr.

There's another one that pops up an indented version of the source, so
you read your source with all the nested loops/compares indented. Very nice
when you get nested 7 deep. 

I mentioned the one that opens an additional source edit session and loads
it with the DDS for the file the name of which was at the cursor position.
Another one uses the "Include/exclude" function. Position the cursor over a
variable you are debugging. Hit your function key and the editor only
displays lines with that variable in it. Move the cursor to one of those
lines and hit Ctrl-A, and all lines are included. Very nice for checking
all the places where a variable is used. 

Or, how about bookmarks. You ever need to move back and forth in a program,
say to look up different variables, and return to the spot where you are
coding? You can set up named bookmarks through the program, say one at the
D specs, one at the beginning of subrs, maybe one or two at different
important subrs. Then, set your quick bookmark where you are coding, jump
to the bookmark closest to what you need to look for, the quick return.

Shoot, these are just getting started. The reason you can't think of
anything that you might add is because you have spent so long not being
able to add anything. In the Unix an PC worlds, just about every editor is
extensible. Because every programmer/environment has different needs. 

> > What about an undo key?
>   
> F5 has worked for me so far in most cases....cursing a whole lot covers the 
>rest :)

Perfect example. You simply accept that the only errors you can correct are
the ones you haven't hit enter on. 

Well, I must be a lot more error prone. I have hacked up chunks of a subr
and realized that I needed to back out a bunch of changes. Or, I just want
to back up and look at what it was before I changed those variable names or
end positions. 

This is particularly valuable when I have been editing something I have
just finished typing in. Something not saved to disk.

> But the boss sez: I pay you the same salary anyway.  Where does "he/she who 
>signs the
> checks" save any money.  Now we have to prove to them that bringing an 
>application on
> line before lunch instead of after paid for it.  Like I don't have enough to 
>do :)

Well, if the boss prefers less productivity for his dollar, and you don't
mind being less productive, you guys should skip Code/400 and stick with
status quo. 

> Guess I'm too much from the old school where computer time cost so much you 
>wouldn't use
> it to find undefined fields or mistypes.  SEU does do some rudimentary syntax 
>checking
> and I suppose a PC based editor would find a mistyped EXSR factor 2 cheaper 
>than a run
> through the 400.  But then again that may be true for the upper end of the 
>400 line.
> BTW what does 1 minute cost on a 5xx series vs 1 minute on a 200?  From what 
>I've
> gathered on this list, because of load, compiles on a 5xx take longer than 
>the average
> 200.  So much sneaky priority changing going on..:)  Now for those that want 
>to measure
> CPU time also factor in human clock wait time before you answer.

Well, Code/400 will load the file references from the AS/400 data base and
then do precompiles at the PC. You will only need one compile on the AS/400
(debugging notwithstanding). This can save machine cycles. More importantly
it keeps the programmers from sitting around smoking and drinking coffee
while they wait on the compile to come off the queue and bomb so they can
look up the list of variables they forgot to define.

> Chris, some people can only DO one thing at a time....they don't multitask so 
>why should
> their computer ;-)

It is odd that people confine themselves to the rules they have been forced
to live with. Because they have never kept several programs open at one
time, they assume it would be of no use. 

Usually, I can't see my desktop with all the stuff I have hanging all over
the place. 

> James W. Kilgore
 

Chris Rehm
Mr.AS400@ibm.net

How often can you afford to be unexpectedly out of business?
Get an AS/400.
root
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