|
midrange.com
Forgive me for thinking clearly (and for being uninformed) <g>, but your
comments got me wondering. I have really appreciated the enancements that
have allowed RPG III to grow into RPG IV and /Free although I never did
understand why RPG was picked over other languages to be the "golden child"
of the AS/400 in the first place. I used PL/I in college and liked it. If
IBM is heading toward a PL/I-like product (or dare I say BASIC) with RPG
then why don't they just stop enhancements to RPG and introduce a PL/I
language? To transition legacy code they could introduce a CVTRPGPL1
command.
Maybe this is beyond the scope of the RPG list...? How about a PL/I list?
<g>
Dave Parnin
Nishikawa Standard Company
Topeka, IN 46571
daparnin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Bob Cozzi
<cozzi@xxxxxxxxx> To: RPG programming on
the AS400 / iSeries
Sent by:
<rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>@SMTP@CTB
rpg400-l-bounces@m cc: (bcc: David A
Parnin/Topeka/NISCO/SPCO)
idrange.com Subject: RE: converting
string to a numeric
07/28/2004 10:45
AM
Please respond to
RPG programming on
the AS400 /
iSeries
<rpg400-l@midrange
.com>
Sound like a case of "Class Warfare". <g>
Remember, it isn't "fixed format" that people love it is RPG they love.
Most people choose not to use fixed format RPG because:
It is not as complete a language as traditional RPG.
There's too much legacy code that would break in free format (MULT & MOVEL
vs. EVAL, for example).
Skill sets are not ready yet.
Most RPG code is still in RPGIII.
Most RPG application developers are interested in having programs continue
to work; the don't care of a field has to go in a fixed location on the
calc
spec or can be in free format.
The thing is, I don't think most RPG fixed-format programmers (whether it
is
RPGIII or RPGIV fixed format) dislike free format programming. They are
just
apathetic. And then there are those who are on one side of the fence or the
other. But most (and I mean a huge majority when I say "most") RPG
programmers just don't care about CompSci issues or language religious
wars;
they just want their code to work.
For me, I used to love PL/I. In fact, I suggested that IBM use PL/I as the
model for enhancements to RPG while they were developing RPG IV. I think
the
motto should still be "What would PL/I do?" and of course if the answer is
something stupid, then do it right instead.
Nothing amuses me more than watching people who are so strongly on one side
of an argument fight to change the world to their point of view (as if the
world was against them) when in fact, the world is apathetic to the cause.
Live and let live as they say.
-Bob Cozzi
-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Chris Payne
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2004 10:11 AM
To: 'RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries'
Subject: RE: converting string to a numeric
There is no argument that I am aware of in java or any other free format
language to convert to fixed format. My friends that program in C and java
have never heard of fixed format, and are appalled when I show it to them.
Chris Payne
-----Original Message-----
From: rob@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:rob@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2004 9:53 AM
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: RE: converting string to a numeric
So is there an argument in Java, or any other language, to make it fixed
format?
Rob Berendt
--
Group Dekko Services, LLC
Dept 01.073
PO Box 2000
Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com
|-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------|
| "Bob Cozzi" | |
| <cozzi@xxxxxxxxx> | |
| Sent by: | To|
| rpg400-l-bounces@midrange.| "'RPG |
| com | programm|
| | ing on |
| 07/28/2004 08:37 AM | the |
| | AS400 / |
| Please respond to | iSeries'|
| RPG programming on the | " |
| AS400 / iSeries | <rpg400-|
| <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>| l@midran|
| | ge.com> |
| | cc|
| | |
| | Subject|
| | RE: |
| | converti|
| | ng stri|
| | ng to a |
| | numeric |
| | |
| | |
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RPG started out fixed, so whether or not it started out free is irrelevant.
Some reasons the free-format stuff isn't 100% yet, is because it is new.
For
example, when a new language, such as Java arrived on the scene, it had so
many shortcomings and eventually became better (although the idea of Java
is
like saying English should be spoken by all humans in all countries... It
just doesn't make any sense to me at all, but I, as usual, digress. <g>)
The point is there is a lot of legacy in RPGIV/RPGIII's columnar
instructions. Granted there are some (many?) at IBM who think that the
MOVE/MOVEL opcodes should not exist (why aren't their equivalent in /FREE?)
and those that think the truncating numbers on an assignment should always
cause an error. Well, I could suggest that some people, way back when
choose
RPG and the S/3x platforms because they were unlike all the other systems.
That is they did things in a way so that we could get the job of running
business applications done.
I could go on, but it could turn ugly. :)
-Bo
-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of rob@xxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2004 8:20 AM
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Re: converting string to a numeric
Can you actually see someone making the argument that an existing free
format language needed to be converted into fixed format? If RPG had
started out as /free can you imagine people actually arguing for fixed
formatting? Are there strong debates in other languages to convert them
into fixed format?
Rob Berendt
--
Group Dekko Services, LLC
Dept 01.073
PO Box 2000
Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com
|-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------|
| "James H H Lampert" | |
| <jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxx> | |
| Sent by: | To|
| rpg400-l-bounces@midrange.| <rpg400-l@midr|
| com | ange.com> |
| | cc|
| 07/26/2004 05:43 PM | |
| | Subject|
| Please respond to | Re: |
| RPG programming on the | converting st|
| AS400 / iSeries | ring to a |
| <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>| numeric |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
|-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------|
> Call me old-fashioned but because indicators are such dangerous little
> suckers I'd rather see an explicit SETON or SETOFF operation.
>
> Use numeric operations for numeric operands, character operations for
> character operands, and indicator operations for indicator operands.
AMEN! And leave languages that are naturally fixed-source-format AS
fixed-source-format: if you're working in FORTRAN, for example, you can
indent all you want BEYOND Column 7, but keep the statements at or beyond
that column, and the continuations in 6, and the labels in 1-5. When a
language is designed to have a fixed source format, free-formatting the
source just makes it harder to read.
You want free-format source? Use Pascal, C, ALGOL, PL/I, LISP, Java, or
Modula-2. They're designed for it.
--
JHHL
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