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Greetings! Asking the readers of this mailing list seems to work well for us in deciding questions. And again, we have an issue which your opinions will help us decide on. In examples that I've posted already, you've seen statements like "CF var = value", where the opcode EVAL is omitted. Based on someones suggestion earlier today, I investigated allowing "CF UpdateMasterFile()" instead of "CF callp UpdateMasterFile()", and I found it remarkably easy for us to implement. However, allowing the opcode names EVAL and CALLP to be optional raises the issue of future compatibility. Say someone codes "CF fred = flintstone" and in a later release we add new opcode FRED. This would result in a compile error! Note that we're not really making the opcode names reserved since we'd still allow "CF eval read = x", and in fact, coding EVAL would be required if the target variable name is the same as an opcode name. As a result, the problem is not as bad as the appearance of new statements in other languages, especially COBOL. But it would be something new for RPG programmers. So, please consider and choose one of the following options: 1) Make EVAL and CALLP always required: CF eval KeepLooping = *ON CF dow KeepLooping CF read MasterFile CF if %eof CF callp HandleEndOfFile() CF endif CF enddo 2) Allow EVAL and CALLP to be omitted: CF KeepLooping = *ON CF dow KeepLooping CF read MasterFile CF if %eof CF HandleEndOfFile() CF endif CF enddo 3) Option 2 with a commitment from us that no new opcodes will conflict with any possible variable or procedure name. For example, opcode ON-ERROR could never be confused with a var or proc name. This may mean some goofy looking opcodes in the future. On the other hand, since most enhancements these days seem to be in BIF's, this may not be too big a deal. 4) Optional EVAL and CALLP, but use some special character to distinguish opcode names from var or proc names: CF KeepLooping = *ON CF /dow KeepLooping CF /read MasterFile CF /if %eof CF HandleEndOfFile() CF /endif CF /enddo If you don't like "/", what about some other character? 5) Is there some other alternative we've missed? As usual with this kind of poll, comments on the issue are welcome. Cheers! Hans Hans Boldt, ILE RPG Development, IBM Toronto Lab, boldt@ca.ibm.com +--- | This is the RPG/400 Mailing List! | To submit a new message, send your mail to RPG400-L@midrange.com. | To subscribe to this list send email to RPG400-L-SUB@midrange.com. | To unsubscribe from this list send email to RPG400-L-UNSUB@midrange.com. | Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com +---END
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