RE: Strange behavior w/%editc()

Joe Pluta wrote:

> > From: McCallion, Martin
> >
> > To quote McConnell (_Code Complete_): "explicit is better than
> > implicit".
>
> Honestly, I rarely consult McConnell to determine my coding practices.

That's as may be, but I think it's good advice.

> > In the former statement it's very clear that the intent is
> > to modify a substring of the lotnumber; in the latter it is not.
>
> On the other hand, to a good RPG programmer, the intent is
> perfectly clear.
> Go figure.

I think this thread has shown that that is not always true; or at least,
it is not always obvious that you are updating a _substring_, rather
than the whole field.  Yes, you should be aware of the attributes of the
fields you are working with, but my point is that the use of the %subst
bif makes it explicit both that you are doing a substringing operation,
and that you _intended_ to.

> >     eval %subst( lotnumber :
> >                      ( %len( lotnumber ) - %len( lotseq ) ) + 1 :
> >                      %len( lotseq ) ) =
> >              %editc( lotseq : 'X' )
> >
> > That doesn't look too great in a proportional font, but in
> fixed-width
> > it should be fine.
>
> And this is where I have to see that you and I view the issue from
> completely different viewpoints.  To replace MOVE LOTSEQ
> LOTNUMBER with the
> code above is so intuitively bad to me that I doubt you and I
> can rationally
> continue a discussion.  This is a case where PC (Programming
> Correctness) is
> taken to an absurd conclusion.

My point here wasn't that the code above was necessarily that good, or
even the best it could be, but simply to suggest that careful layout of
code can greatly improve readability.

Cheers,

Martin.

--
Martin McCallion
Senior Technical Consultant
Work:  martin.mccallion@misys.com
Home: martin.mccallion@ukonline.co.uk
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