Re: Compile error when using field in a subfield data structure

"We conclude that in a large program, no indentation would be a real 
hindrance and very difficult to use. The 
 same is true for overly indented programs."

Yes, you can overdo indenting, imho.  No indenting would be hard to work 
with, but too much is almost as bad.    /FREE in debug mode with
many nested conditions and, hence, heavily indented, can be  very 
frustrating, at least for me.

Fred Underwood
North American Stainless
(502) 347-6187

mailto:funderwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




Hans Boldt <boldt@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent by: 
rpg400-l-bounces+funderwood=northamericanstainless.com@xxxxxxxxxxxx
05/18/2004 08:57 AM
Please respond to
RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>


To
rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
cc

Subject
Re: Compile error when using field in a subfield data structure






Jderham2@xxxxxx wrote:
> No, that's not true. We like hammers very much and have good aim. What 
we 
> don't like are nail gunners with no aim al all. We good spend days 
talking about 
> coding style which does not seems to be a subject that is given any time 
in 
> today's education system. But then neither are the rule of grammar or 
just good 
> solid phrasing.
> 
> Free Form has a place but it is far from being the end of end all's. 
Logic 
> and concise code planning is still king of the hill and I don't think 
Free Form 
> adds one iota to that problem.
> 

Jack: A couple of months ago, we were asked by management to find some 
quantitative reasons for using free-form. Since free-form coding is the 
norm in this business and the advantages are patently obvious to 
practically everyone who designs and uses programming languages (at 
least in the vast programming world outside of RPG), it turned out to be 
a harder task than expected.

But I did find one publically available study that tried to measure the 
effects of indenting source code, at 
<http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=358437&dl=ACM&coll=portal>. In 
the study, the authors conclude: "In summary, we conclude that some 
indentation does aid program comprehension. From our results, we suggest 
that the optimal level of indentation is 2-4 spaces. No indentation 
produced significantly lower mean scores and the subjects found working 
with this program difficult. We conclude that in a large program, no 
indentation would be a real hindrance and very difficult to use. The 
same is true for overly indented programs."

I can personally attest to that, working regularly with both properly 
indented C code and with traditional "straight-line" RPG code. There's 
no question at all which is easier to work with.

I also refer you to the book "The Elements of Programming Style", by 
Kernighan and Plauger. The first edition (published I believe in 1974) 
was pretty much required reading when I was in school in the late 
1970's, and the second edition (1982) is still in print. (How many other 
books can you name in this industry that have that longevity?) At the 
time, the book was nick-named "The Old Testament". For a summary of the 
main points of the book, visit 
<
http://users.erols.com/blilly/programming/The_Elements_of_Programming_Style.html
>. 
Nothing here is new - most of these principles were taught to computer 
science students as much as 30 years ago! But for RPG programmers, many 
points can only be practised using recent versions of RPG.

Cheers! Hans

_______________________________________________
This is the RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries (RPG400-L) mailing list
To post a message email: RPG400-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/rpg400-l
or email: RPG400-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at http://archive.midrange.com/rpg400-l.