RE: Tab delimited... again

Funny you should ask.  I got a enewsletter today from something Cozzi 
writes.  In it was an article on the use and history of varying length 
fields.  I'll try to paste the link enclosed in the enewsletter however 
when I clicked on any links in that letter earlier it told me that there 
was some error and I should try again later.

Hmm, working now.

http://www.mcpressonline.com/mc/.6ae7263e

Rob Berendt
-- 
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary 
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." 
Benjamin Franklin 





qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Tom Liotta)
Sent by: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
07/22/2003 07:54 PM
Please respond to RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
 
        To:     rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
        cc: 
        Fax to: 
        Subject:        RE: Tab delimited... again


rpg400-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>  Having a nice, rigid, clearly
>defined record structure was definitely an advantage in the RPGII days, 
but
>today, the comiler is supposed to take care of all that data mapping 
stuff
>anyway.  Modern database designs allow for varying length character 
fields,
>and do not require blanks to pad out the field. 
>
>In DDS, you can use the VARLEN attribute to enable varying length 
character
>fields. 


I've been thinking about the phrase above -- "Modern database designs" -- 
and wondering if anyone recalls how long it's been since RPG had the 
ability to handle variable length records. (Or how long since VARLEN 
became a DDS keyword.) Note that this is a separate question from 
something like "How long have you been using variable-length records in 
RPG?" unless you recall being an early adopter... I know I had 
variable-length available before using them in RPG.

Tom Liotta

-- 
Tom Liotta
The PowerTech Group, Inc.
19426 68th Avenue South
Kent, WA 98032
Phone  253-872-7788 x313
Fax    253-872-7904
http://www.powertechgroup.com


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