Re[4]: New Opcodes - %SETCELL

     It seems to me that this is a major (and tragic) difference between 
     RPG and other development platforms:  There doesn't seem to be a forum 
     or marketplace for third-party library functions.
     
     If you look at the number of ActiveX controls, free and commercial, to 
     which a VB developer has access, or the range of class libraries 
     available to Java programmers, it is a source of bewilderment to me 
     that there is no such repository for ILE.
     
     If we sit here and wait for IBM to enhance the compiler with Excel 
     functionality (and believe me, we'll be left waiting), the development 
     of the language, and by extension the whole platform, is retarded.  On 
     the other hand, the language can be extended with great ease and 
     comparable performance by simply writing library functions in a 
     service program - why doesn't somebody do this?  Apart from anything 
     else, it could be a nice earner...
     
     ____________
     Paul Cunnane
     The Learning Company
     
     P.S. I missed the whole CF-spec discussion - could someone mail me a 
     digest?


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Re[2]: New Opcodes - %SETCELL
Author:  "Joe Teff" <jteff19@idt.net> at InterNet
Date:    07-09-99 8:20 am


>     Strikes me as the sort of thing that belongs in a library function 
>     (which could be implemented as a service program):
>
>       eval  mycell = GetCell("/test.xls":"r1c1") 
>
>     IMHO, a BIF should reflect a need that a *large* proportion of RPG
>     programmers will have.  BIFs for every conceivabe esoteric application 
>     don't seem workable to me.
     
This is a "catch-22". If updating spreadsheets were easier then it would 
be a common occurrence and if it was a common occurrence then the 
process to do it would become easier. I really don't have a problem with
an API in a service program rather than a BIF. In fact, the first thing I do 
when I encounter an API I need to use, is to create an external procedure 
(in a service program) only passing the parms that are neccessary. Once
that is done, I can then use my procedure like a BIF. The only real problem 
I have with APIs is the documentation. There must be a special college 
course that you take so that you can write impossible to understand text. 
At least the documentation for BIFs is understandable.
     
Joe Teff
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