RE: Testing from the command line (was: Use of %DEC withunformattedcharacter numerics)

rpg400-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>   3. Re: Testing from the command line (was: Use of %DEC
>      withunformattedcharacter numerics) (Douglas Handy)
>
>> I use them all the time.
>
>Then what did you mean by:
>
>> If back in the day when it mattered, people only would have learned how to
>> write their own command definitions... 

Doug:

I've created command definitions since... well... I no longer remember when I 
started... not even if it was pre-OS/400 since I don't remember when CRTCMD was 
first available. I love the concept. When ILE came around and procedure 
prototyping became acceptable (in RPG which kind of steers on on-topic), I made 
my mental connection between command definitions and prototypes.

But I've been disturbed by lack of advancement in CL in general, with the 
exception of ILE CL modules and the newest enhancements for V5R3 and perhaps a 
trickle of others.

Nowadays, the thing that disturbs me most is the lack of ILE support through 
command definitions. I'd _LOVE_ to have a command definition that would 
reference a procedure for example. AFAIK, it can only reference a *PGM object 
(or REXX procedure). But if it could reference a bound procedure... Cool. Not 
at all sure _how_ IBM could pull it off.

And I'd love to be able to set an option on a command PARM() definition that 
told it to leave off "Number of values passed" from the beginning of lists that 
I define. While it's very useful for standard list parms, it just gets in the 
way when I want to define a mixed list that essentially creates a fixed data 
structure such as what gets passed into various APIs. I can't simply name the 
API as the CPP; I have to create a CPP that receives the parm, strips off 
"Number of values passed" and then calls the API.

And I'd like to see a number of other things that others have 
mentioned/requested over the years.

I've understood why IBM resists advancing CL in such ways, but that doesn't 
reduce frustration. I could say similar things about UIM and I could say how 
irritating that there never was a REXX compiler or a native version of 
ObjectREXX or NetREXX, etc.; but CL is the (off-)topic of the day, and lack of 
advancement in CL has kept it relegated to secondary status in many sites.

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.powertech.com



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