RE: CL pgm and pointer variables

[Joel Fritz <JFritz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I don't disagree with you that pointers are useful and sometimes necessary.
I think in a lot of the transaction processing and inquiry stuff that many
of us write, they aren't nearly as useful as they are at a lower level.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Richter [mailto:srichter@autocoder.com]
> Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 10:25 AM
> To: rpg400-l@midrange.com
> Subject: RE: CL pgm and pointer variables
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rpg400-l-admin@midrange.com
> [mailto:rpg400-l-admin@midrange.com]On
> Behalf Of Joel Fritz
> Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 12:13 PM
> To: 'rpg400-l@midrange.com'
> Subject: RE: CL pgm and pointer variables
>
> >IMHO, there is very little need for pointers in business application
> >programming in RPG.  There are some situations where dynamic memory
> >allocation makes sense, and you may need them for some API
> calls.  Mind
> you,
> >I'm willing to sacrifice some performance for
> maintainability.  I think
> >they're nice to have, but should be used when they're the
> only reasonable
> >option for solving a problem.
>
> the indirect benefit from pointers, data pointers, macros and
> other best
> used only by a trained professional features is that they
> enable function
> libraries to be built better.  The C++ STL is a example of
> what I mean by
> this. The STL uses features of C++ that make for very obscure
> code below the
> implementation level of the STL, but it is easy, at least
> theoretically
> easy, for the programmer to use the STL functions.
>
> Steve Richter
>
>
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