RE: Free Form RPG Opinions Wanted

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Hans Boldt
>
> I have absolutely no idea why you think that could kill off the RPG
> IV base. All older programs will still compile. And if you don't
> want to use free-form calcs, you still have the choice not to use
> them. As others have pointed out, free-form calcs should be used
> only for *new* programs or modules, and I agree whole-heartedly with
> that.

That's because you don't work in application development, Hans.  What you're
saying is that all development shops must now support TWO formats, fixed and
free-form, with fixed for old and free for new.

So when you modify a program, do you use fixed or free?  Does it depend on
the amount of work involved?  And do my programmers have to know both
syntaxes, or do I have "old" programmers and "new" programmers?

AIEEEEEEEEE!

By using my simple, straightforward suggestion of allowing every supported
free-form opcode to have an fixed format extender such as (X) that treats
extended factor 2 as the same syntax as free-form, then you can have a
campaign to slowly wean everyone off of fixed and onto free.  They can learn
to take advantage of the new BIFs, while at the same time figuring out how
to deal with all the old MOVE instructions.  And once everything is
converted, then a single pass to move to free format and you're done!  This
is a much smoother transition than what you've currently got.

And no, I'm not giving up on MOVE, or at least a %MOVE BIF, but I am at
least accepting for now that it ain't there.

Joe