Re: [IBMiOSS] RPG easier/harder to use than other languages?

Um, OK. I think you jumped a few expository steps there. :) I agree Ruby

has some nice syntax. I don't see how you're relating/contrasting it to
RPG. (This might just be because I don't know Ruby well enough.)

Comparing Ruby's syntax to RPG's latest freeform is a harder (unfair?)
comparison because of data type declarations required in RPG (Ruby will be
inherently cleaner). Before getting to that, and while digging up some RPG
100% freeform docs, I stumbled on the following discourse at the bottom of
this RPG tutorial: http://krengel.tech/dw-rpg-hellow (scroll to the bottom
of the page). In short, these are just a short list of things required to
use RPG 100% freeform (if this, then install that PTF, if that, then make
sure you are in column 7, etc) and what drives me nuts.

Hm. Forgive my ignorance, but what language(s) are you trying to get into

QSYS.LIB?

None, currently.




Aaron Bartell
IBM i hosting, starting at $157/month. litmis.com/spaces


On Wed, Jul 5, 2017 at 5:33 PM, John Yeung <gallium.arsenide@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Wed, Jul 5, 2017 at 5:04 PM, Aaron Bartell <aaronbartell@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Any other particular examples stick out for you? What can you do in

free-form RPG today that you wish you *couldn't* do in free-form RPG?

I am spoiled with Ruby syntax.

Um, OK. I think you jumped a few expository steps there. :) I agree
Ruby has some nice syntax. I don't see how you're relating/contrasting
it to RPG. (This might just be because I don't know Ruby well enough.)

I actually find the era of only c-specs
freeform (and d-specs fixed) to be much easier to read. D-specs are
cryptic, though succinct. Full free is, in my opinion, cryptic *and*
verbose. So we went backwards.

Ah, that's a fairly contrarian viewpoint you've got there! I fully
agree with you about the D-specs. But I can think of at least one
benefit to allowing as much free-form code as possible: This makes it
easier to do development using mainstream editors. (Getting the
columns right without highly customized support isn't easy. Indeed, I
think getting columns right is one factor contributing to people
copying code and modifying it, rather than writing from scratch.)

What do you mean by "stop trying"? Who is trying now?

Me. :-) That statement was me thinking out loud a bit.

Hm. Forgive my ignorance, but what language(s) are you trying to get
into QSYS.LIB?

John Y.
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