Re: Why are object names limited to 10 chars long?

[Rob Berendt <rob@xxxxxxxxx>]

Most operations just work on the 10 character long table names.  However the 
following SQL statement will
 work on DB2/400:
CREATE TABLE ROB/THISISONEHONKINGBIGTABLE
     (THISISABIGFIELD FOR COLUMN NAMEAS10 CHAR (25) NOT NULL WITH DEFAULT)

This creates a file that gets an alternative name assigned to it via the system 
cross reference files.  It will have a
 different name when you do a WRKOBJ.  Also notice your field names can have 
two different names.
This is similar to the DDS keyword ALIAS.  Useful for mixed language 
environments such as RPG and ILE RPG.
I had a friend in the consulting business that set up a PC application to 
update files on his 400.  Had the whole
thing written when the AS/400 weenie made him change all the field names 
because he refused to learn new
things like ILE RPG, the ALIAS DDS keyword, SQL/400





ravi@spacestar.com on 09/09/98 10:15:00 AM
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Subject:        Why are object names limited to 10 chars long?

Howdy folks,

I was in an all too familiar situation of defending the AS/400 to my
colleagues who work on Oracle. One of them raised a question which
stumped me.

In Oracle the table names can be quite descriptive. Why is the file name
or any object name for that matter limited to 10 chars on the 400? When
Windows went to 32 bit, longer file names were allowed. Has the 10 char
restriction been carried over from the old days because of RPG
restrictions? Can someone shed some light on this??

Thanks in advance....

Ravi
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