Re: RPG Cycle (was Multi-Occurring DS)

A rather specious argument. A lot of the features available in RPG (any version) are hidden from the programmer.

Back in the 80's I attended a COMMON session on Subfiles, even though I was on a S/36. Within a few months I had developed a method for doing subfiles on a /36. Obviously all of the code was plainly visible to any programmer, but would anyone (of sound mind, anyway) want to write subfile programs that way?
And is a real subfile program intuitively obvious to any programmer, especially a rookie? Matching records, level control breaks, and other features of the cycle are, compared to subfiles, intuitively obvious. And, if not, can be understood by any programmer in less than an hour (which is how long that session lasted in my first programming class). Understanding subfiles can become a lifetime learning project (of course, I'm speaking for myself). So the features that help us program things like subfiles are verboten because they are not obvious? Poppycock.


* Jerry C. Adams
*IBM System i Programmer/Analyst
B&W Wholesale Distributors, Inc.* *
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615.995.7024
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Lim Hock-Chai wrote:

Again, it comes with a cost for your IT shop. May or may not be much,
depending on your staff.
-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jerry Adams
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 4:23 PM
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: RPG Cycle (was Multi-Occurring DS)

Lim Hock-Chai wrote:

As far as RPG cycle, may be, I've made too much assumption regarding

it.

In my IT shop, 99.9% of programs are NON RPG cycle programs (Primary file...). Most programmers here do not use traditional RPG cycle programming. Under this condition, I just do not believe it is a good

to introduce cycle programming simply because it is the best tool for a particular task. Non RPG cycle can be just as effective.

And I still fail to see why people avoid (nay, prohibit) the use of the
cycle. Except for the myriad of old RPG II code that I have to maintain
(no RPG III), I *may* have written three or four (obviously)
cycle-dependent programs in the last five years.
The cycle, though, is part of the language just like BIFs, for example.

Some, like %found( ), I use very frequently. Others I may never have
used at all, but I know how to read the bloody manual (that section I
actually printed for quick reference and review).
Personally, I'm too old and too darn lazy to re-invent things like
matching records and level control breaks (especially when doing both at
the same time).


* Jerry C. Adams
*IBM System i Programmer/Analyst
B&W Wholesale Distributors, Inc.* *
voice
615.995.7024
fax
615.995.1201
email
jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>




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