RE: Chalk one up for "The Cycle"

<snip>
It's not complexity, it's hiding what the program is doing. I (and a
bunch of us) have written RPG for years and years, and I know the
cycle cold. I taught the cycle for years. And any graybeard RPG
programmer should know the cycle. But that's not the point IMO - it's
that others, especially new people, won't know it. Sure, they can
learn it...and they can have the opinion that RPG really is a Report
Program Generator with Specifications. Or, they can learn cycle-less,
free format, RPG/IV code, and use all the techniques that they learned
in school. I would rather have RPG be a mainstream language rather
than a specification language. I don't think the cycle makes a program
more efficient; it just removes lines of programming code that a lot
of people would expect.
<snip>

Am I the only person in the world maintaining older code?? Do the 'new'
programmers look at a program and decide, "can't be bothered fixing it I will
just write a new one"

What if the cycle is THERE? What do you do? If the shop you work in hasn't the
time or the money to constantly write new programs, just ignore it and hope it
will fix itself?

And as for missing the 'P' well, sorry, if the program is reading a file and
there is no READ/CHAIN whatever, then chances are.......

Just the opinion of a poor old contractor who has to fix the stuff that the new
breed of programmers don't want to touch.

Steve