Re: Packed vs. Signed db fields -- RPG400-L

The FTP argument is a red herring in any case. If any of the zoned numeric
fields are negative, they will not be handled correctly by FTP if all you do
is EBCDIC->ASCII.

Pete
"Andrew Lutz" <andrew.lutz@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message
news:49728E7A0C194948B8133AD5D3FE3C270392814F@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
..
>
>
> Here are my arguments against zoned data
>
> RPG converts zoned data to packed data internally for use.  This is
> overhead you can avoid by using packed in the first place.
>
> Zoned data storage wastes space.
>
> ODBC handles Zoned or Packed without any problems that I've seen.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Klement
[mailto:klemscot@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Friday, May 16, 2003 10:20 AM
> To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
> Subject: Re: Packed vs. Signed db fields
>
>
> >
> > They are about to implement "standards" which say to make ALL numeric
> fields
> > in the db zoned fields.  The argument being for the "chance" that they
> MAY
> > at some time in the future have to interface with a PC package which
> MAY use
> > FTP to download AS400 files.
> >
>
> I sure hope they're making the same concessions on the PC.   i.e.
> storing
> everything in a format, such as XML, that can be FTPed and read by
> iSeries
> programs.
>
> If they're using software like Word, Excel, etc, other than the absolute
> newest versions of these, the data is unreadable by the iSeries, and
> therefore violates their rules.
>
> Granted, these things can be exported to other formats -- but likewise,
> your DB2 databases with packed numbers could be exported to other
> formats
> (CPYTOIMPF is there explictly for this purpose)
>
> Unless the iSeries is being treated as a 2nd-class machine, this rule
> should be enforced both ways.
>
> Not only THAT, but zoned decimal is not directly exportable to the PC
> unless it contains a positive number.  Negative numbers will STILL be a
> problem.
>
>
> > I'm arguing that signed numeric is not really "native" to the AS400
> > architecure, wastes disk space, and is a performance issue.  This one
> small
> > issue is a problem for me, since it is "just not right" and I have
> problems
> > with doing things that I feel are just wrong.  Expressing a
> (hopefully)
> > educated opinion is part of being a consultant, I feel.
> >
>
> It's called "zoned" not "signed numeric".   Packed, Zoned, Integer all
> support being signed.
>
>
> > The slight cumulative performance gain is enough for me, having worked
> on
> > over-taxed AS400s before where a nanosecond gained was a nanosecond
> gained.
> > They are saying that "disk is cheap" and that we have plenty of disk
> and
> > performance now.  I'd like to win this argument, since it just ain't
> right,
> > particularly for a "standard".
>
> I agree that this "just doensn't seem right".   But, I don't think
> you'll
> ever notice the performance difference, or disk space...   we're not
> talking about much here.   Even on a billion records, a nanosecond per
> record difference isn't going to affect the bottom line.   And disk
> space...   Wow.   Using packed instead of zoned isn't going to make much
> difference here.  If disk space is truly an issue, you'd be better off
> using some sort of zipping/compression software for uncommonly used
> objects.   I can almost guarantee that there are 10 things wasting more
> space than the packed vs. zoned issues.
>
> >
> > Does anyone have a convincing argument for this "small" issue, or any
> kind
> > of stats on the performance just thrown out the window?
> >
>
> Decide on what's important to the company.
>
> If interoperability between PC/OS400 is of top importance, then you
> need to make sure that all of the PCs follow suit as well.   I'd also
> store all numerics in alphanumeric fields, using edit codes so that
> the negative numbers are represented in a PC-friendly manner.   Yes,
> this
> will hurt performance, but if interoperability takes priority, then
> that's
> what you do...
>
> if you don't mind exporting things before having the interoperability,
> then you can concentrate on performance.   Packed performs slightly
> better
> than zoned.  (and much better than parsing a character string!!)
> In this case, you can export the files when you need them.   Likewise,
> you
> can export them on the PC.  Problem solved.
>
>
>
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