Re: Midrange Knowledge test

["James H. H. Lampert" <jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

James Rich wrote:
. . .
> I think this example would help you find people who write hard to debug
> code and eliminate those that follow best practices.
. . .

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The "best practice" in programming is to avoid limiting oneself to one
language, and to select the best available language for any given job.
(Which is why I find it so ludicrous that anybody would attempt to call
certain APIs from RPG, when those APIs are clearly poorly suited to RPG
calling conventions.) 

And RPG, as a language, has exactly one thing to recommend it, and it
happens to be the one feature that far too many RPG programmers either
avoid like the plague, or have never learned to use: "The Cycle." Using
it, even in unconventional ways, is hardly an "obscure trick"; it's as
inherent a part of the language as "single-level store" is to OS/400.

I've written perhaps two cycle programs that are controlled by a primary
file (BOTH of which I wrote THIS VERY MONTH, the first one ENTIRELY from
scratch, and the second borrowing code only from the first one, but I
have written a whole bunch of interactive cycle programs that couple LR
to KC.

In my opinion, anybody who is unable to write or understand a cycle
program, whether it's controlled by a primary file, or by the user, or
by nothing at all, (or who can't tell at a glance what's controlling
"The Cycle" in any given program) has no business using RPG in the first
place. Besides which, with its rigid column layout that makes even the
traditional BASIC, FORTRAN and COBOL source formats seem free, RPG is
inherently a pain in the fundament to debug, because that rigid source
format makes it a pain in the fundament to trace control structure
nesting. By eliminating a nesting level, even the most unconventional
use of "The Cycle" SIMPLIFIES the program.

To all those out there who can only code fluently in one or two
languages: LEARN ANOTHER! As many more as you can! And learn the
strengths and weaknesses of all of them.

-- 
James H. H. Lampert
Professional Dilettante
http://www.hb.quik.com/jamesl
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