Re: Move an entire record format as a whole

[boldt@xxxxxxxxxx]

Bob wrote:
>Yes, the ability to read into a data structure would be good. Much more
>important to me that CF... :)

So far, it looks like most people like the idea, so I'll add
it to our "proposed enhancements" list.  Ooops - it's already
there!  (Thank Jon Paris).  You should see it in our next
enhancement poll.

Regarding the infamous CF-Spec, it's already done.  I had that
one mostly coded even before I was scheduled to start on it!
We've had a bit of design churn on it, but the effect of that
was more new BIFs in the language.  V4R4 ended up with 38 BIFs.
So far, we've added another 30.  I'm trying to convince everyone
here that we should add another 8 so we'll be able to say we've
doubled the number of BIFs!

It's actually not as impressive as it sounds, though.  Almost
all of these new BIFs simply duplicate function previously
available only in opcodes.

>I guess fundamentally, it would work like the program described files do
>today,

Of course.

>but also allow the ability (maybe in phase 2) to read into the DS
>without using the Input spec area. That is it would allow use to define our
>Input data with D specs.

Do you mean "locate mode"?  We've been brainstorming various
ideas here for a while, including that one.  But we've seen no
clear consensus on what a "phase 2" would look like yet. There
is still lots of design work to do on a "phase 1" for this idea.

>Of course I wouldn't expect, nor would I want, you
>to implement all that RPG cycle stuff from the Input specs in the D-spec
>implementation.

Of course!

(Hmmm, on the other hand, how about some new BIFs: %LVLBRK,
%MATCH, etc? :-)

Cheers!  Hans

Hans Boldt, ILE RPG Development, IBM Toronto Lab, boldt@ca.ibm.com


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