RE: Date compare Best Practices -- RPG400-L

Hi,

> In the case where I am, the shop using the cycle, O specs for output,
> etc... IMO they are swamped with work, and cannot afford the investment
> of time that it would take.

Don't try to do it all at once.  Converting to RPG IV doesn't take very
long to just get started if you already know RPG III.   The folloing code
snippet is RPG III:

C                     MOVE WKNAME    NMEOVR 15
C*
C           NMEOVR    IFNE *BLANKS
C                     ADD  1         LRNAME  50
C                     MOVE *ON       *IN90
C                     END

Here's the equivalent code in RPG IV:

C                   MOVE      WKNAME        NMEOVR           15
C*
C     NMEOVR        IFNE      *BLANKS
C                   ADD       1             LRNAME            5 0
C                   MOVE      *ON           *IN90
C                   END

I simply can't imagine that you'd have a hard time adapting from one to
the other.  Sure, the columns are a little different, but they're really
the same language.

Then, when you need a new feature of the language (say, for example, date
manipulation) you can just spend a few minutes learning that one little
thing, and adding it to your repetoire.

Over a long enough time, you'll have learned the whole language without
ever spending a lot of time doing it.   That's how I learned it...  taking
"baby steps."


> Most of the employees have been there since early 90's. This is what
> they know.

Since "early 90's"  is a bit imprecise, let's say for the sake of
discussion that someone started in RPG III in 1992.  RPG IV was released
in (I believe) 1995.  That means that they've had 9 years to overcome
habits that they developed in 3 years!

If they had taken a few minutes to just start using RPG IV back then,
they would've been more productive for 3/4 of their career!

I just want to point out that every question you've asked on this mailing
list in the past week has been answered with an answer similar to "it's
easy to do in RPG IV, but harder in RPG III... let me see if I can
remember enough RPG III to show you the hard way..."

That, in itself, exclaims loudly that you'd be saving time by switching.

> It makes sense when you see the pressure that they are under. That is
> the explanation for my current place. My first decent job in 18 months
> so I won't even go there in terms of why they won't change, because I am
> happy.

Funny, I've never had a dry spell in my career.  Even when the economy was
at it's worst, I had people constantly asking me for help with one thing
or another.  Why?  Because companies need to implement new technologies to
remain competitive.  I stand out as someone who knows how to implement
those technologies, and can help their people learn them.   If I was still
programming in a language that was considered "obsolete" 9 years ago, do
you think I'd be in the same position?

Learning and growing is a part of the IT industry.  Computer technology
evolves rapidly, and if you make no effort to change at all over decades
of time, you're going to get left behind.  That's a fact of life in this
industry.

Just some food for thought.