RE: RPG IV and CF-spec "keep it IBM"

[Buck Calabro <mcalabro@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>> What I like the most
>>about RPG over other languages is the fixed format.  
>
>Fine.  But what stops you from continuing to use it even if CF is
>released?  Nothing.  So where's the beef?

I think the beef is that Toronto is spending time on CF-specs rather than
other things.

That's where I agree with the "Don't work on CF-specs" posters.  If there
are other, more important items to work on, hit those first.  Then do the
CF-specs.  Personally, I prefer that the CF-spec be added to the language.
Right now, the only way to indicate "style" is through vertical whitespace;
not very effective for indicating nesting of grouping/looping constructs.

I am having a difficult time understanding the argument that "it's no longer
RPG."  I have two separate but connected opinions on this:

1. Good!  RPG II (the benchmark?) is hardly the language to 
    write complex modern applications with.  I've had more
    problems working on legacy logic carried forward into
    RPG/400 than I care to think about.  As far as I'm
    concerned, Toronto should have made RPG IV
    incompatible with RPG/400.  Let those who like
    RPG/400 keep on using it - it hasn't changed any
    and it won't change any.  Let those who want to
    change languages use the new, incompatible, better
    one.
2. What makes a program "RPG enough?"  Is it fixed columns?
    Is using BEGSR instead of procedures?  Is it the legacy
    code that you can support?  I can't seem to lay my finger
    on what makes an RPG program "RPG".  Certainly, the
    addition of CF-specs won't make it as self-extendable as C 
    (or even the much maligned CL!)  I don't get how adding
    CF-specs makes the language "less RPG"
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