Right side comments

[Buck Calabro <Buck.Calabro@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Right side comments do have value if used judiciously.  In the RPG III
world, I used to use right side comments in the C specs, but only for COMP,
IF/END, DO/END SELEC/WHEN/ENDSL etc. groups.  

     C           DDD       IFGT RPTDAY                     > RPTDAY 
     C                     SUB  1         YY                        
     C                     ADD  365       DDD                       
     C                     END                             > RPTDAY 

I find that there is just too little room for a "real" comment, but much of
the RPG III code is so monolithic that there can be hundreds or even
thousands of lines between the IF and the corresponding END, so the right
side comments can help there.  I believe that having a mnemonic rather than
a "how deep are we nested" number is more useful because sooner or later,
that code will get an extra IF or have one taken out, and then the comments
are out of whack with reality.  Further, scanning on 0001 will turn up way
too many false hits, whereas "> RPTDAY" will only find my two places.  It is
actually useful to add this sort of right side comment when going in to
legacy code for the first time.

In the RPG IV world, when I'm visiting code like that (many lines between IF
and END) I have a very strong tendency to make the interior code a
subroutine (with a nice long descriptive name) so that I can see the
decision point and the action on the same editor screen.

C     DDD           IFGT      RPTDAY           
C                   exsr      decrJulianYear   
C                   END                       
 
C     decrJulianYearbegsr                      
C                   SUB       1             YY 
C                   ADD       365           DDD
C                   endsr                      

Buck Calabro
Commsoft; Albany, NY
Visit the Midrange archives and FAQ at http://www.midrange.com
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