Re: Is this the Free-Format that

[D.BALE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

PLEASE!!!  ALLOW NO MORE THAN ONE STATEMENT PER LINE!!!

Dan Bale
IT - AS/400
Handleman Company
248-362-4400  Ext. 4952

-------------------------- Original Message --------------------------
At 11/1/00 03:00 PM -0700, you wrote:
>/free
>
>     Read(n) MASTER;
>     If (not %EOF);
>       /copy something
>          For i = 0 to num;
>               x = y(i);
>          EndFor;
>     EndIf;
>
>  /endfree;
>
>There is no shortage of free-format languages that have managed to do the
>job without requiring the programmer to type an explicit end of statement
>character. Why does RPG need one? Think about this folks. EVERY SINGLE LINE
>of code needs the new terminator. How many extra keystrokes will that amount
>to in a given day of coding? And what is it gaining you? NOTHING!

  The only possible "advantage" (in quotes because I see it as enabling
difficult to read code, in most cases) that I can see is that it would
allow multiple statements on the same line.  Otherwise, it's just extra
baggage and s/b eliminated.  My personal opinion is that it shouldn't be
there.  If the design spec says that it *must* allow multiple statements on
one line, then ALLOW its use as a delimiter between statements.  Forcing it
as a requirement seems silly to me.

>One other point that should be brought to your attention is the elimination
>of the GOTO statement from the free-format specifications.

  While GOTO is almost obsolete, there are times when it's the most
expeditious opcode to use, i.e. when maintaining some older, monolithic
piece of code and you need to add a condition that says "we're outta
here".  I see no reason a tag can't be added, similar to DOS's :TAG
structure.  (CL's TAG: structure would probably be problematic, since the
":" is already used as a procedure parm delimiter.)

  -mark
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