Re: external *PRTF (was: RE: 'ILE RPG' or 'RPG IV' . What's the difference!!!) -- RPG400-L

David,

On other platforms in other langauges there are things that come with
the compiler that help you keep track of the source.  Such as Projects
in MSC++.  In those environments and langauges I dont' have trouble
finding the things "attached" to the program, I just find them in the project.

The arguement can be made that this exists on the AS/400, to an extent,
with some third party applications for change management, but to me
this is just not good enough.  It should come with the compiler.  I don't
have it here in my shop, and the PTB just arn't going to authorize me
buying it.  So, I am stuck with what comes with the box and RPG.

If the source is lost, as you state, it's going to be a headache to re-write
or retrieve the modules needed anyway, so it doesn't really matter if the
source is in RPG, PRTF, CL or whatever format.  The best answer for
this is, don't loose the source unless you enjoy doing things twice.

So, it is not a matter of loosing source, but of being able to find it!
Finding the program source is generally not that diffucult, as long as some
bonehead before me didn't keep a copy of RPG36, RPG and RPGILE
all in teh same library with the same name.  But then, just look at the
compiled program and look at the type.

In 99% of the cases the display file and source is going to be in the same
library as the RPG source code, on our system anyway, so this has never
been a problem.  Print Files, however, seem to float all over the library
list and get reused and I have a heck of a time finding them.  Those are
the problem, and why I feel it is much easier in the long run to just use
O specs.

Regards,

Jim Langston

When all else fails, blame someone else.

"Shaw, David" wrote:

> <SNIP>
> Would you reconsider if you had the same problem with losing the source of
> the display file that you had with the print file?
>
> Consider that it's much easier to recreate the source of an
> externally-defined display or print file than it is to recreate I or O specs
> for a program-described version, if the source is lost.  I don't consider
> source management issues to be valid reasons for choosing programming
> paradigms, since ultimately it's a management and tool issue and can affect
> ANY source, regardless of type.  And once again it's that independence of
> the source from the object that it creates that's the root cause, anyway.
>
> Dave Shaw
> Spartan International, Inc.
> Spartanburg, SC

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