RE: Re[4]: New Opcodes - %SETCELL

I think this may be to do with the lack of hobby programmers in 400
development. 

How many of us have '400s at home so that we can develop these freeware
bits. 

>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: pcunnane@learningco.com [mailto:pcunnane@learningco.com]
>>> Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 1999 8:21 PM
>>> To: RPG400-L@midrange.com
>>> Subject: 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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