RE: Syntax checking (just wanted to get the F-word out of the title)

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: James Rich
> 
> Joe Pluta wrote:
> >
> > But the jLpex editors still need work, and syntax checking in
> > free-format is just one of those things that MUST be fixed for RPG
to be
> > taken seriously as a language.
> 
> Don't you mean that syntax checking must be added to editors for those
> editors to be taken seriously?

No.  I meant exactly what I wrote.  The editor (that is, Eclipse and
specifically the JDT) is already fantastic.  Unfortunately, the jLpex
team isn't quite there yet.  And thus, those languages under the jLpex
umbrella, including RPG, suffer, especially in comparison.


> Syntax checking is not part of any
> language.  For example, English does not come with syntax checking.

Interesting observation.  And now back to the topic...


> That responsibility lies with the hand that wrote it.  I don't think
RPG
> (or anything else) can be called inferior just because people don't
code
> it using emacs^H^H^H^H^H SEU  ;)

I didn't say anything about SEU.  What I'm saying is that programmers
today no longer even understand the difference between the language and
the IDE, and so they will require a snazzy, VB-like interface or else
they will consider the language to be "old".  

Since the JDT under Eclipse works like an editor should, the jLpex
editors look poor in comparison.  There's no real reason that the RPG
jLpex editor can't have the same syntax checking as the JDT (they follow
nearly the same syntactical construction now) and so it just looks like
Java works and RPG doesn't.

Joe