Re: BrainStorming on changes/addtions -- RPG400-L

You could prototype the C functions atoi (alpha to integer) and atof (alpha
to float) to do your conversions for you. (This is what I have done)

______________________________________________
Eric N. Wilson
President
Doulos Software & Computer Services
2913 N Alder St
Tacoma WA 98407


----- Original Message -----
From: End of the Trail <endofthetrail@skyenet.net>
To: <RPG400-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 1999 8:01 PM
Subject: Re: BrainStorming on changes/addtions


> As long as we are compiling a wish list, I would like to see some sort of
> %value function as in basic.  I have had call to design a screen field as
> char for input accepting only numerics; then right justify, fill with
zeros
> and move it to a numeric variable to be used in the program's calcs.  I
> could not find such a function.  The others seem to convert numeric to
> numeric.  Basic, what I recall, was a value function that returns the
value
> of a char variable. It would save a couple of lines of code.  (I am able
to
> right justify and zero fill the char field using eval and subst then move
it
> to a numeric field).   Soooo....   Star light, Star bright, First Star I
see
> tonight, ....
>
> Eurrat Saylor, Jr.
> End of the Trail       endofthetrail@skyenet.net
> Walkerton, IN
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: boldt@ca.ibm.com <boldt@ca.ibm.com>
> To: RPG400-L@midrange.com <RPG400-L@midrange.com>
> Date: Tuesday, August 17, 1999 9:10 AM
> Subject: RE: CF - One last question
>
>
> >
> >
> >John wrote:
> >>Thankyou Buck,
> >>You captured the exact flavor of my comments/concerns.
> >>As for keywords,  The other languages mentioned "Grew up"  that way,
> >>We are talking about taking a 90degree turn  in this language
> >>when we say "Starting tomorrow the following words are keywords".
> >>
> >>This CF thing is obviously "Going in",  and   I still think that we
don't
> >>know
> >>what the Real impact to our coding will be.  Nor do we know all the
> >>ramifications that it will have.
> >>
> >>I believe that Barb, George, Hans, will do their best giving us what
they
> >>think we
> >>want/need,  but over the last 10 years I have found,  that sometimes
what
> >>they
> >>think they hear we wanted,   is not what we sometimes think we said.
> >>
> >>I'm just always  cautious about a change this big.
> >>They only ONE chance to get it right.
> >>Once it goes in,   IT AIN'T NEVER COMING OUT.
> >
> >Hi John!  We do appreciate your concern.  This is certainly one of
> >the more controversial things we've done in a long, long time.
> >Even V3R1 of ILE RPG wasn't this controversial, IMHO!  That's why
> >we've been much more open about this, asking for public input on at
> >least two separate issues regarding the design.  My gut feeling now
> >is that there will be no further "tweaks" to the function (other
> >than bug fixes) and that what we have now is what will ship.
> >Several times now, I expressed the desire to see the discussion die
> >down, only to bring on more through my own questions.  Hopefully,
> >this is it now!
> >
> >So far, this has been an interesting experience, using the internet
> >to help us nail down the design of a new function.  In the past,
> >we've had to rely on the advice of a relatively small number of RPG
> >users, often in face-to-face meetings.  (For example, Charlie
> >encouraged us to beef up support for overlay subfields and Bob
> >shamed us into allowing numeric on %CHAR.)
> >
> >But now, we can reach many more.  Those RPG users with internet
> >access may not totally represent a true cross-section of all RPG
> >users, but this group probably best represents those who are most
> >interested in the leading edge stuff.  As I believe you know, I'm
> >a big fan of "brainstorming".  My colleagues here know that I often
> >suggest "wild and crazy" ideas, which sometimes result in ideas
> >worth pursuing.  As a result of discussions on this mailing list,
> >I've added at least half a dozen items to our proposed enhancements
> >list, most of which will probably appear on our next poll.  And
> >some ideas brought up in this mailing list have already made their
> >way into the compiler.
> >
> >Cheers!  Hans
> >
> >Hans Boldt, ILE RPG Development, IBM Toronto Lab, boldt@ca.ibm.com
> >
> >
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