Re: Clever UNIX/C Constructs

Those were the old tube-machines....right?

I am all for new functions, etc...  But I do not like adding redundancy...
So far I have not seen any reason to add something like +=.  The existing
functionality is just as easy, and IMO more readable anyhow...

If we are going to add functions, lets get some better API-wrapper
functionality...  Some programmable web-centric stuff (tcp, udp, ports,
etc)...  You name it...

I would rather expand with new functionality, not rehash the old stuff....





----- Original Message -----
From: <D.BALE@handleman.com>
To: <RPG400-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 11:31 AM
Subject: RE: Clever UNIX/C Constructs


> Guys, I'm really NOT THAT OLD, but I do recall having to modify an RPG
(I?)
> program on a mainframe back in the early- to mid- 80's, just after I
started
> on a S/34, and remember being surprised that the compiler flagged an error
on
> an ADD statement because factor 1 was not specified.
>
> Also, I'll have to check to see if I still have the textbooks, but I'm
pretty
> sure factor 1 was not required for the ADD, SUB, MULT, DIV opcodes even in
RPG
> 1.5 on an IBM 1130 (yes, punch cards!) or in RPG-II on a S/3.
>
> Dan Bale
> IT - AS/400
> Handleman Company
> 248-362-4400  Ext. 4952
>
> -------------------------- Original Message --------------------------
>      Doug, I'm pretty sure Factor 1 was optional in RPGII on the S36, as
>      of '85 or so. I remember coding that way long before ever seeing
>      RPGIII or RPG/400.
>
>      Then again, I sometimes can't remember what I did yesterday, so my
>      memory on this may be faulty.
>
>      ED
>
>
> ______________________________ Reply Separator
> _________________________________
> Subject: Re: Clever UNIX/C Constructs
> Author:  "Douglas Handy" <SMTP:dhandy1@bellsouth.net> at EXCHANGE
> Date:    1/2/01 9:31 AM
>
>
> David,
>
> >I have always been fond of
> >ADD 1 CYOORD
> >
> >That one has worked since 196x...
>
> Actually, it didn't work in the '60s or even the '70s, and that is part of
> the
> point.  When I first started with RPG II in 1979, factor 1 was not
optional,
>
> thus you wrote:
>
>       C           CYOORD    ADD  1         CYOORD
>
> As I recall, it wasn't until after RPG III on the S/38 that factor 1
became
> optional in RPG II -- it may have the last release or two on the S/34, or
> more
> likely one of the S/36 releases.
>
> And I always *did* prefer to leave factor 1 blank when it matched the
result
>
> field.  Not so much because it was less typing (not a big deal), but
because
> it
> was easier to read during maintenance -- you didn't have to examine the
> field
> names to make sure they matched.  RPG field names (At least then) tended
to
> be
> somewhat cryptic, and it is/was all too easy to "read over" a single
> character
> difference.
>
> So to me  RESULT += FACTOR2  *is* the equivalent of:
>
>       C                     ADD  FACTOR2   RESULT
>
> whereas RESULT = RESULT + FACTOR2 is the equivalent of the old:
>
>      C           RESULT    ADD  FACTOR2   RESULT
>
> I'd welcome this change, just as I did making factor 1 optional.  Not
> because it
> saves typing, but because it makes "reading" source easier during
> maintenance.
> I suspect this will be less of an issue as more programs have "real"
> variable
> names which are longer than 6 characters.  But OTOH, that may make one
even
> less
> prone to pay close attention to when two variables names are extremely
> similar
> but not identical.
>
> I wouldn't spend lots of my $100 for it, but then it didn't cost much
> either...
>
> Doug
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