Re: Efficacy of code generators

["Brad Jensen" <brad@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "jt" <jt@ee.net>
To: <midrange-nontech@midrange.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 6:48 PM
Subject: RE: Efficacy of code generators


> Jim,
>
> Thanks for your views.  See inline...

What is interesting to me is that the first time I ever heard of
RPG was when I was taking my first computer class from a math nerd
professor in the summer of 1969. We were wiring shift registers,
machine language programming in binary, having a good time. There
were guys who looked like junior accountants showing up in the
computer room with this really earnest but somewhat bewildered
look. One day I asked the professors, "who are those guys?"

He said, don't mind them, they are RPG users. Its a code generator
that does the programming work for you, but its real limited.
Learn to program instead.

Of course modern RPG is much more powerful and confusing than that
early version. I want to know why you don't just change the
mnemonic to CMFROM so at least it looks a little structured.

I wrote a program generator once to create
add/modify/inquire/delete programs in COBOL. It was written in
COBOL ( the only language we had.) I also wrote an English
language query program (again, before we had SQL, and simpler
syntax) and at once time thought of porting it to the AS/400.

I do wonder if even now, a simple applications interpreter (not a
code generator) might still be useful. I know you have DFU and
such, I'm thinking (I think) of something more flexible.

I've often thought of writing a Cold Fusion clone and calling it
Warm Fishin'

(which would attach to an AS/400 thru OLE/DB, of course.)

Brad Jensen