Re: Development Standards

Very well said, agree 100%.

And while you can use most of the "new" RPGIV functionality with cycle, you
can't use all of it.

Specifically, the DS I/O enhancements and free-format f-specs.

That's enough for me to say that the cycle shouldn't be used for new code.

Charles



On Sun, Dec 11, 2016 at 11:30 AM, Jon Paris <jon.paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

While I agree to a degree with the thrust of your argument Jeff - I have
to completely disagree in one respect.

The cycle is not just a language feature. Most language features can be
relatively simply understood (as long as you know another language in the
general category) by simply looking at a reference in a manual.
Lists/arrays/collections/etc/ and the functions that operate upon them are
easy to identify even if the finer nuances take a while to understand.

That is not the case for the cycle which involves a number of different
indicators in obscure column positions. Extra information relating to the
primary/secondary nature of files on F-specs. Weird stuff on I and O specs,
etc. etc. In addition to having to understand the entire concept in order
to identify detail time etc. operations. All of this before you can really
grasp what is going on. If the same functionality is coded in direct logic
it is far more obvious what is happening. If I have maintenance/upgrading
to perform on code that I am not familiar with I know which of the two I
want to work with - and I grew up with the cycle! Do I want a newbie
RPGers - or even one wth several years experience - to have to pick up the
cycle to perform that task - no way.

Add to that the fact that no schools - or even modern books - really teach
it any more and I think you have to ignore it for new code. I have been
telling my customers for many years to only use the cycle in
quick-and-dirty-throw-away updates (of the type that these days SQL is
probably better suited for). Not to take the time to remove it from simple
reporting programs etc. - just not to perpetuate it into new code.

I need programmers for my shop - whether their background is PHP, Java,
.Net, or whatever. I don't need to teach them something as arcane as the
cycle because maintenance is everything and I've seen way too many programs
in the past where the programmer had clearly spent as much time fighting
the cycle as using it. In most cases the program didn't start off that way
- it just evolved over time.

So by all means let's not avoid functionality because not all languages
support them - but let's not include the RPG cycle in that group.



Jon Paris

www.partner400.com
www.SystemiDeveloper.com

On Dec 11, 2016, at 6:46 AM, Jeff Crosby <jlcrosby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

wrote:

On Sat, Dec 10, 2016 at 10:20 AM, Raul A Jager W <raul@xxxxxxxxxx>

wrote:

If we, old ones, where able to learn it, the young should be able to.

It

is a tool specially designed to generate reports, probably the best in

the

industry, why not use it? The fact that other languages don't have it,

is

a dis advantage that we do not need to copy.

Agree 100%. Take the "don't use the cycle" to it's logical conclusion

and

you're saying "Don't use feature X because it's not available in every
language out there."

And no, the cycle is not the answer to every programming issue.



--


Jeff Crosby
VP Information Systems
UniPro FoodService/Dilgard
P.O. Box 13369
Ft. Wayne, IN 46868-3369
260-422-7531
www.dilgardfoods.com

The opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the opinion of my
company. Unless I say so.
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