Re: Commenting out blocks of code in FF

On 10/17/06, Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> The only other way I have seen it done is by a "/if
> defined(TheFollowingIsCommentedOut) and /Endif" statements.  Is there
> another way to do it?

I don't understand why you wouldn't want to use that technique.  It
accomplishes the same thing as /* and */, in a very simple, efficient
manner.

Sure, you could use the editor's capability to insert "//" in front of
every line of code -- that's not hard to do -- but it's a pain when it
comes time to re-enable the code.  with IF DEFINED it can be easily
enabled/disabled.

For example, do something like this:

   /if defined(EXPERIMENTAL_CODE)

   ... all of "commented out" code is here

   /endif

Assuming that "EXPERIMENTAL_CODE" isn't defined, the code will be ignored
by the compiler, and therefore won't be compiled into the program.

If you like, you can even enable it on a per-compile basis by doing this:

    CRTBNDRPG PGM(MYPROGRAM) DEFINE(EXPERIMENTAL_CODE)

You can create any "if defined" condition name that you like.  I often
have programs like "/if defined(EXCLUDE_THIS_CODE)" to make it clear that
I intended to disable the code so that the next guy won't be confused
about whether to enable/disable the define condition.

Of course, it's also easy to simply delete the /IF and /ENDIF lines if you
want to re-enable it permanently.

What is it about this technique that you don't like?

it is hard to make a practical case against ifdefs, I just dont like
that they make it harder to do a static analysis of the code. Where
you parse the code and report the usage of fields, procs, files, ...
C is a great language, but because of the use of its extensive macro
features, C code can be very hard to work with.

-Steve

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