RE: CF-Spec - another call for opinions

[Colin Williams <Williamsc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

One the AS/400s main strengths is its compatibilty across releases. Are
you saying that idea is a bad thing?

>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: John Taylor [mailto:John.Taylor@telusplanet.net]
>>> Sent: Thursday, August 12, 1999 2:32 PM
>>> To: RPG400-L@midrange.com
>>> Subject: RE: CF-Spec - another call for opinions
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Colin Williams wrote:
>>> 
>>> > I beg to differ. Having to change source on an upgrade is 
>>> a very big
>>> > deal. Thats the sort of thing that prevents people from upgrading!
>>> 
>>> It might prevent an RPG'r from upgrading, but programmers 
>>> using dozens of
>>> other languages have been successfully dealing with such a 
>>> situation for
>>> many years. Did the adoption rate of VB 3.x, 4.x, 5.x or 
>>> 6.x falter because
>>> Microsoft kept adding new features, and therefore new 
>>> reserved words?
>>> Granted, it's not fun to do, but with a good search and 
>>> replace utility, it
>>> takes very little time. In addition, it is quite rare to 
>>> actually have to do
>>> this. You get used to the idea of setting up your naming 
>>> standards so that
>>> everything has a prefix.
>>> 
>>> You want to have your cake, and eat it too. That's fine, if 
>>> Hans & crew can
>>> pull it off. What I'm afraid of, is that the new "free" spec will be
>>> bastardized for the sake of maintaining complete 
>>> compatibility with all
>>> existing applications. If it means that the new spec has to 
>>> be coded as
>>> shown below, I'm not going to use it anyway.
>>> 
>>> > 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
>>> 
>>> In fact, I would be perfectly content if you weren't 
>>> allowed to mix C and CF
>>> specs at all. I hate the idea of having to maintain that kind of a
>>> mixed-mode beast.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Respectfully,
>>> 
>>> 
>>> John Taylor
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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