RE: free-format move *USA date value to 6-digit numeric in YMDformat

> So various ways to solve problems based on the release level. 
> And I don't mean they added XML support in V5R4 and it should 
> be PTF'd back to V3R1, I mean in V5R1, V5R2 and V5R3 there 
> are subtle "enhancements" to the language that are all 
> related (such as the example above) in which partial 
> solutions are introduced in a point release and then the next 
> part of the solution is introduced in the next point release 
> and so on. 
> Try teaching RPG IV to students at various release levels. 
> Crap like the above is becoming more and more wide-spread in 
> the language. "If you're on
> V5R3 you do it this way, if you're on 5.2 you do it this way, 
> but if you're on 5.1 you can get around it by doing it this way..."

Yes yes!  You hit the nail on the head.  I don't get one convoluted string
of BIFs to convert date-to-character-to-numeric committed to memory before a
'point release' makes it unnecessary thanks to a new or enhanced BIF making
it much simpler.