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Just curious the reason of based keyword design in RPG. If they are tightly integrated, why not just allow doing the following: %addr(myField) = myPointer;
Hmmm... I don't know why they did things the way they did them. Maybe Barbara or Jon would know?
One problem with your suggestion is that you'd still need a way to mark a field (on the D-spec) as one that the program will control the storage for. Typically, a standalone variable defined on the D-spec will automatically have memory allocated for it when the procedure/program starts up. And that memory will be automatically released when the program stops. One of the things the BASED keyword does is tell the runtime NOT to ask for memory for the field when the program/procedure starts.
So, you could potentially have a USRSTG keyword (or whatever name makes sense) on he D-spec, and then have the compiler use %addr() on the left-hand side of an EVAL to control the area of memory the field points to. That'd certainly work.
Though, I think the way they did it (with BASED and a pointer) is probably easier for people to understand. If they used %ADDR() on the left-hand side of the expression, you'd be getting lots of messages on this forum from people who used %ADDR() but didn't use USRSTG, and don't understand why their program doesn't compile. Or people who specified %ADDR() (on the left side) for a subfield of a data structure. Or on a parameter. IMHO, the based() syntax makes things a little easier to understand, and a little easier to avoid mistakes.
But, thinking of it in terms of %addr(Field) = pointer is a good sign -- it shows that you understand what BASED does :)
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