RE: IFS in RPG -- RPG400-L

I understand why people would like to see stream files on F specs and have
RPG handle them in ways that mimic the way it handles database files.  Maybe
because I came to RPG after training in other languages, I still find the F
(and other specs) foreign after nearly ten years.  Don't get me wrong, I
love how easy I/O is with database files.

This raises the questions:  Is a stream file an OS400 file object?  How easy
is it to handle F spec references to things that aren't "files?"  I'm more
curious than anything else.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Dow [mailto:maillist@dowsoftware.com]
> Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2002 3:08 PM
> To: rpg400-l@midrange.com
> Subject: Re: IFS in RPG
>
>
> Hey, IBM is adding new keywords all the time!  How many have
> they added in
> the last 5 years?  The latest that I know of EXTMBR() in V5R1.
>
> I kind of like sticking with the F-spec.  That's one of the
> first places I
> go in an unfamiliar program to see what it's doing.
>
> Peter Dow
> Dow Software Services, Inc.
> 909 793-9050 voice
> 909 522-3214 cellular
> 909 793-4480 fax
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joel Fritz" <JFritz@sharperimage.com>
> Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2002 2:29 PM
> Subject: RE: IFS in RPG
>
>
> > Hah.  You're introducing new keywords; that's not fair. <g>
>  AFAIK you
> can't
> > use string variables as record format names or file names
> for database
> files
> > without a select statement that translates.
> >
> > I don't see much value in being able to have a stream file
> name on an F
> > spec.  I may be short sighted. <g>  If everyone writes different
> procedures
> > to do the things that the Unix Type file APIs do, it just
> means we're
> > becoming like C programmers who ignore library functions.
> The only thing
> > I'd like to see would be bifs or standard prototypes for
> copying.  There's
> > also opportunity for people to do the sort of thing David
> Morris is doing
> > with utilities.  I've never understood why there are so few utility
> > libraries available for RPG.  Might even be possible to sell them.
>
>
>
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