Re: Converting characters to hex

[Jon.Paris@xxxxxx]

 >> Are we talking about APIs here or MI instructions?  If MI instruction
design is being discussed, then why use that as an example of poor design
in APIs causing people to give up on APIs?

Hi Bruce,

If I'm programming in RPG and I use a system supplied interface to an MI
instruction (I'm not directly coding MI) then surely by any normal use of
the term I'm using an API?  It may not strictly match IBM's definition of
the term but what else would I call it?  There must be manipulation going
on "under the hood" to map my call into the MI required format and it just
seemed to me that it could have been made a bit more intuitive.

Now if you want examples of strange designs in APIs I'm sure the assembled
populace could come up with any number of examples for you <grin>.

<rant on>
I confess that this thread triggered this mild rant (which in itself it
didn't deserve) because it is very frustrating when you constantly come
upon examples in IBM manuals that tell you how to code the function in C
(really useful to most RPG/COBOL folks) or in the case of some of the
recent DB2/400 functions - Visual Basic! - now that really helps me to
implement it in my production RPG code!  Thanks goodness for Mel Rothman
and CGIDEV2 'cos I sure as hell would never have discovered how the CGI
parse APIs worked without a large amount of investigative time that I don't
have.

I'm probably better equipped than most RPGers to interpret IBM's
documentation, but by golly you guys don't make it easy for us.  The
biggest single comment we get on the RPG Redbook goes along the lines of
"Thank goodness IBM actually published something that helps me make sense
of these things - now can't you get the manual writers ......."

<rant off>


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