Re: Using OO concepts in RPG

If we are talking about making RPG and UB2/400 into poor copy of other
languages, then that is a bad thing in my mind.  

Sometimes I have the feeling that all of us lose track of what RPG stands
for.  Report Program Generator.  That is what RPG is, and in my opinion
where it should remain.  There is no other good report generator program on
the planet and we are asking that it wander from its roots.  My own opinion
is that enhancements in RPG should stand the Litmus Test of "Will it help
programmers generate better reporting?"

If we need enhancements then let the enhancements be directed to outputting
HTML reports and pretty printing.  We could be screaming for a useable RLU
product, or the ability to print in color, or good interfaces to inkjet
printers, or true font choices.  We could be asking for easy e-mailing of
reports, being able to print "Page x of XX",  standard stationary that
includes watermarks and headings and can be used in a report just by naming
it.

Writing reports is where RPG won its wings, and where it should remain in my
opinion.  I have no desire to see RPG turned into a poor rip-off of Java or
C++.  Let those languages do their own work and let RPG do its own work.


---------------------------------------------------------
Booth Martin   http://www.MartinVT.com
Booth@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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-------Original Message-------
 
From: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Date: Saturday, May 10, 2003 09:53:42
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Using OO concepts in RPG
 
> From: David Gibbs
.
 
In this line, here are some of the things I'd like to see:
 
1. Instantiation
2. Indirect method calls
3. Garbage collection
4. Inheritance (with or without overrides)
5. Protected fields

 
Joe.