Re: What bugs you about KLISTs in RPG IV?

["Dan Bale" <dbale@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>> In other words, full expressions coded directly as key fields
>> for the keyed I/O operations!

>Oh boy.  NO.

>But then again YES.

>It would depend on the coder.  Remember that we spend 90% of the
>program's life in maintenance.  This method would allow a programmer
>(and you better believe that they would do this) to scatter this stuff
>all over the program.  Every CHAIN op would have to be visited for key
>information if the keys changed.  The only way around that (and I know
>of VERY few programmers that do this) is to code every CHAIN as a
>subroutine or procedure and isolate the key list to that subroutine or
>procedure.

Bruce,

Programmers are also able to throw KLISTs all over the source now (and, boy, do
they ever!).  What happens more in maintenance?  A) Keys to a file changing?  or
B) trying to find the KFLD fields of the KLIST that is associated with a CHAIN
or a READE that is causing problems?  In all the environments I've been in, 99%
of the time it's "B".

Even if the key to a file changes, how are you going to search for the KLISTs
that need to be modified?  You'll still have to go to the CHAIN or READE op
codes to find the KLISTs being used.

So, I am with the free-form that Hans is touting.  I doubt I would ever use an
expression as a key field, though.  Given the current debugger, how would you
ever debug that?

- Dan Bale





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