RE: free opcode

["Shaw, David" <dshaw@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

John,

Stipulated that it didn't do what many (most?) people thought that it did, but I
take issue with the "It Didn't Work" bit.  Its purpose was to enable files to be
opened for sharing without leaving a dummy RPG program in the PAG.  For that
purpose a CL OPNDBF command is just as good, maybe even better, but there is no
equivalent for display or printer files.  For anyone who wanted that, the FREE
opcode provided a way to do it.

Of course, the question raised is why would anyone want to do that?  Well,
MAPICS used it (maybe even still uses it, I haven't checked in years) for one of
its generic error display files.  It might even have made a noticeable
difference on an S/38 Model 4 with 512 KB!  Is it likely to matter on an AS/400?
That seems pretty doubtful.

I certainly agree with the recommendation to just yank it out when converting
RPG III to RPG IV, but I just wanted to point out that FREE did have a somewhat
valid use at one time.

Dave Shaw
Spartan Mills
Spartanburg, SC

-----Original Message-----
From: John P Carr [mailto:jpcarr@tredegar.com]

Well the sad truth is that the FREE opcode probably didn''t do 
what you thought it did in the first place.   It just "Ended" the program.
It didn't close the associated files or other resources.   In laymen's 
terms "It Didn't Work"  to begin with.   
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