Re: Is this the Free-Format that we asked for?

Hi John,

Yes, I know, beating a dead horse. So can we consider it a hypothetical
thing? I'm curious -- are you saying that as long as we don't split a token
we don't need terminators or continuation characters? And that using them
would allow us to split tokens? Yikes!! Imagine this:

e
v
a
l
=
'
a
'
;

Is this what having line terminators will allow us to do?

Who's going to write the first utility to "prettyify" the free-format code?
Isn't there something like that for C programs?

Regards,
Peter Dow
Dow Software Services, Inc.
909 425-0194 voice
909 425-0196 fax



----- Original Message -----
From: "John Taylor" <john.taylor@telusplanet.net>
To: <RPG400-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2000 2:08 PM
Subject: Re: Is this the Free-Format that we asked for?


> Hi Peter,
>
> Yes... and No.
>
> Your example works because the continuation takes place at the end of a
> complete token; in this case - the last closing parentheses.
>
> If the break took place within a literal, then you would need to add a "-"
> or a "+". The "+" would cause continuation to start with the first
non-blank
> character of the continued field(s), whereas the "-" starts at the first
> available position and includes the blanks.
>
> ie:
>
> eval  a = %substr(c:1:5) + 'My
>          text'
>
> would not work, but
>
> eval a = %substr(c:1:5) + 'My+
>          text'
>
> would.
>
> The rules are different yet again for continuation that involves names.
You
> need an ellipsis on the end.
>
> ie:
>
> Eval              ThisIsAReallyLongFieldNameThat
>                      DoesNotFitOnOneLine = "Mytext"
>
> would not work, but
>
> Eval              ThisIsAReallyLongFieldNameThat...
>                      DoesNotFitOnOneLine = 'Mytext'
>
> would.
>
> What I would have preferred to see, rather than the semicolon on the end
of
> every statement, is a blank space, plus an underscore, for continuation
> only. For example:
>
>
>  a = _
>        %substr(c:1:5) _
>        %substr(d:5:10)
>
>  a = %substr(c:1:5) + 'My' _
>          + 'text'
>
> ThisIsAReallyLongFieldNameThat _
> DoesNotFitOnOneLine = 'Mytext'
>
>
> I wouldn't have any objection to a semicolon being used to separate
multiple
> statements per line - should the compiler ever support that. Such as:
>
> a = "A"; b = "B"
>
>
> In any event, I consider this discussion a waste of time at his point.
Hans
> has made it perfectly clear (on the web forum) that the semicolon is here
to
> stay - period. From IBM's perspective, the topic is not open for
discussion,
> so why continue beating our heads against the wall.
>
> Regards,
>
> John Taylor
> Canada
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peter Dow" <pcdow@MailAndNews.com>
> To: <RPG400-L@midrange.com>
> Sent: Friday, November 03, 2000 13:01
> Subject: Re: Is this the Free-Format that we asked for?
>
>
> > Hi John,
> >
> > Aren't we already writing multi-line statements with no continuation
> > character and no termination character?
> >
> >     c            eval    a =
> >     c                        %substr(c:1:5) +
> >     c                        %substr(d:5:10)
> >
> > Note that the + sign is not a continuation character, it's a
> concatentation
> > character.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Peter Dow
> > Dow Software Services, Inc.
> > 909 425-0194 voice
> > 909 425-0196 fax
> >
> >
>
>
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