Re: RPG-III to -IV conversion rehash worries

On 12/15/05, Buck <kc2hiz@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Anybody have a cheat sheet for 3-to-4 conversions?
>
> In all seriousness, I don't convert RPGIII code other than run it

<snip>

> It isn't at all unusual to write code like this:
>
> EXFMT
> MOVE
> MOVE
> X IFGT Y
> if checkCredit(cust#: region) = POOR
> ...original code...
> endif
> ENDIF


<TIC> You've got to be kidding, Buck!  What reasonable person could ever
think something so ridiculous! </TIC>  (Almost forgot this wasn't
CPF0000-L!)  (Those of you not in the CPF0000 list: this TIC is in the
context of the "debates" found in that list, and Buck is easily the
quintessential gentleman in the company of boors.)

A lot of people have commented that this is ugly.  Oh, well.  It is what
> it is.  It also works flawlessly, and I can readily insert my changes
> into existing code without having to worry about the side effects.  As a
> life long maintenance programmer, I've had to look at all sorts of
> stuff, and my current ideal of 'beauty' involves:
> works as desired the first time
> easy to understand
> easy to debug
> easy to change in the future


Ah, beauty in the eye of the beholder, eh?

Actually, we agree on your four points of "beauty", but we probably disagree
as to what constitutes the latter three.  I have gotten to the point where I
"read" RPG-IV so much better than RPG-III-columnized-to-RPG-IV.

As I've been looking at my options over the past few hours, I think I have
come to the point where I'll just leave it as converted by IBM's CVTRPGSRC,
so that I can bind modules that I will build for the new app enhancements.

- Dan