Re: New RPGIV functionality

["David Morris" <dmorris@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hans,

Is there anything we can do to help you convince Rochester?  If 
you can convince them and code this, I will post or publish any of 
bifs that would benefit others.

David Morris

>>> <boldt@ca.ibm.com> 07/13/99 06:05AM >>>
David wrote:
>The new functions that make code easier to read are real nice.
>However, I wouldn't want to give up new functionality for a few
>second savings.  I have hit several limitations in RPGIV that have
>required hundreds of coding hours on my part.  One of those
>limitations is related to operational descriptor support.  It is great
>that there will be 30+ new bifs, but if I could only pass variable
>format parameters and retrieve their attributes I would probably
>write 60+ of my own new bifs by the next release.

I've been trying to get Rochester to improve their support of
operational descriptors.  If they can support more of RPG's
datatypes, we can code the necessary changes in the compiler
in a day.

When you write your 60+ new BIF's (procedures), will you
share them with other RPG programmers?

>
>There are many other areas that could really expand RPGIV's
>capabilities.  They may also add complication, but used properly,
>they would simplify our applications.  What has been offered to
>date, especially Sub-procedures, has greatly enhanced our
>productivity.  The poll that you published was a great idea, but it
>seemed to me that the questions did not always clearly explain
>the benefits and implementation of the proposed enhancements.

I agree that, while the enhancement poll was quite successful
as far as we were concerned, we could have done some things
better.  Certainly better explanations would be nice, and that
would force us to do a bit more design up front.  Also, I'd
like to ask some general demographic questions, such as what
release you currently code to, years of RPG experience, etc.

Cheers!  Hans

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


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