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Sadly enough Bob, there are people who convert stuff back. I have one in our shop that has converted fixed format code like: if (x=y) and (a=b) back to x ifeq y a andeq b Rob Berendt -- "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin "Bob Cagle" <bcagle@lynkinc.com> Sent by: rpg400-l-bounces@midrange.com 02/10/2003 04:12 PM Please respond to RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries To: "RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries" <rpg400-l@midrange.com> cc: Fax to: Subject: RE: /FREE RPG compiler errors Wow Joe - that is an impressive resume! I commend your efforts! I had no intention of directing that comment in your direction or of you taking that comment as a personal criticism - I apologize that's how it seemed. By you own admission, you have taken it upon yourself to learn new technologies (JSP, HTML, etc.) - so I still stand by my comment: you are one of those programmers who have the desire to be something more. This comment was more directed towards the green-screen RPG programmers who are content with being just that - green-screen RPG programmers. I know and have worked with several of them. They are the ones that will always hold our kind back because they refuse to use the latest technology. (BTW, ILE and RPGIV is no longer the *latest* tech - it is nearly 10 years old now!) Because of these individuals, IT shops have set their coding standards to the "lowest common denominator" - usually excluding ILE and RPGIV, much less /Free! The argument (excuse) I usually get from these people is that there is not a business need to convert to RPGIV and that the next person who came along behind them may not understand the code. To those points, I say bull*! RPGIV is a definite improvement over RPGIII, and I believe /Free to be an improvement over fixed columns! For the poor sap who comes along behind me who doesn't understand my free-format - then to put it bluntly - he's not doing his job. It is all of our responsibilities to stay current. Joe, you may not like /Free, but what would you do with it if you had to maintain a /Free program that someone else wrote? Please don't tell me that you'd convert it back to fixed columns?!?!? p.s. I obviously don't consider /Free a "passing fashion"! I have chosen it as our shop standard for new development and will stand by that choice. IBM will continue to improve upon it with each new release and it will continue to improve (i.e. SQL support!) Bob Cagle IT Manager Lynk, Inc. Phone: 913-492-9202 ext 41 Fax: 913-894-1556 BCagle@LynkInc.com -----Original Message----- From: Joe Pluta [mailto:joepluta@PlutaBrothers.com] Sent: Monday, February 10, 2003 3:00 PM To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries Subject: RE: /FREE RPG compiler errors > From: Bob Cagle > > I have made an observation here, but it appears that most of the members > of this mailing list are the programmers who are not just willing, but > desire to push our own abilities. I believe this to be a *must have* > skill to achieve longevity in our chosen careers as RPG professionals. > Learning, utilizing, and becoming expert at ILE RPGIV, including /free, > is a part of this process. This is comment that absolutely KILLS me. <ROTFLMAO> By this you are implying that my dislike of free-form RPG is due to my lack of desire to push my own abilities, or to push the envelope of programming. That I perhaps am unable to assimilate the new format. That I am, in fact, afraid to learn new things. If so, you might be a teeny bit off target with that implication. This may sound self-serving, but I've got a reasonably impressive resume when it comes to new technology. Among the things I have developed or co-developed: the first standalone asynchronous communications device for the S/3X family, the first commercial client/server application on the S/38, the first multi-platform graphical applications using OS/2 and the AS/400, the most successful automatic correction of Y2K bugs in RPG, the first commercial Java-based application on the AS/400 and my latest, the automatic conversion of 5250 applications to HTML. I don't just write JavaServer Pages - I write code that writes JSPs. So it's not that I don't push my own abilities. It's just that not every new technology is worth it. I give you Enterprise JavaBeans as a perfect example. EJB is a bust for just about anything short of a complete application rewrite. Yet a year or so ago it was the holy grail. Right now, there is a vocal minority pushing free-form, yet it can't even properly handle SQL. So, for me, the jury is out, and it ain't because I'm afraid of change. It's because not all change is good, and until something is proven, it's not a *must have*. One last point, as far as the fine folks in Toronto have said so far, it is my understanding that free-form is meant to be an "alternate", not a "replacement", to RPG IV, at least for the foreseeable future. I may be wrong in that. I'd like to hear that particular comment from Barbara or Hans. Anyway, it's opinion at this point. But I'd appreciate you not getting out the walkers for those of us who don't jump on every latest buzzword. Maybe because we're older we don't embrace every passing fashion. Instead, we conserve our energy for the RIGHT new technologies <grin>. Joe _______________________________________________ This is the RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries (RPG400-L) mailing list To post a message email: RPG400-L@midrange.com To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options, visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/rpg400-l or email: RPG400-L-request@midrange.com Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at http://archive.midrange.com/rpg400-l. _______________________________________________ This is the RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries (RPG400-L) mailing list To post a message email: RPG400-L@midrange.com To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options, visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/rpg400-l or email: RPG400-L-request@midrange.com Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at http://archive.midrange.com/rpg400-l.
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