Re: Converting to upper case -- RPG400-L

In theory (gotta have a copout!), I concur with your laudable goal of
centralization & encapsulation.

I see at least one risk, however.  You mention the ability to enhance your
functions.  Say you've got a particular function used in hundreds of
applications.  You make an enhancement to it.  Are you going to test those
hundreds of applications that use it?  If not, why not?  How can you know that
what you considered an enhancement does not actually introduce an error into
one program that has a "special case"?

Also, taken to the extreme, you *could* externalize all of the opcodes (except
EVAL) into procedures.  Have you done that?  Well, jeez, that sounds rather
snippy, doesn't it? (still only on my first coff of cuppee this morning,
sorry) <g>  OK, rephrase:  Are there any other opcodes that you've
externalized?

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

-------------------------- Original Message --------------------------
Dan,

In my experience, it is better to centralize those types of functions in
routines that you have control of.  That way if xlate does not do what you
want, or a newer, better version comes out from IBM, you are in a position to
take advantage of it.  I insist on this in all of our software, and some of
this may sound extreme, but what you are doing is  positioning yourself to
build more reliable software that is easier to change and enhance.

In this case it seems like you would classify the encapsulation of xlate as
extreme, where I would rate it
at good practice but not essential.

David Morris

>>> D.BALE@handleman.com 12/19/00 12:56PM >>>
David, thanks for the reply!

It seems to me that you can't get much more centralized than just using the
XLATE opcode.

What problems with the code page?  Do not the letters A-Z & a-z all translate
the same way regardless of code page?  And if not, XLATE can't handle that but
an API can?  Scary thought.  If you need a procedure to correct problems
associated with code pages, don't you still have a problem with constants
defined in the application?

I know you were just using the code page as an example, but I'm hard pressed
to think of another example where a straight "upper" or "lower" procedure
would offer more flexibility over XLATE.

It just seems to me that you're trying to fix a problem before one actually
exists.

Dan Bale
IT - AS/400
Handleman Company
248-362-4400  Ext. 4952
+---
| This is the RPG/400 Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to RPG400-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to RPG400-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to RPG400-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---