Re: Need Some RPG Technical Questions -- RPG400-L

Cycle, Cycle, Cycle?

It' doesn't matters, in V6R1 it seems we can do away with
the cycle, and hopefully that will be the end of this kind
of discussions :-).

On the other hand, the cycle is just another tool in the
bag of tricks, and its use or not doesn't make anyone a
better or not programmer (or more virtuous, or experienced,
or whatever). It all depends on the business problem at
hand and how you solve it.

(This from a old programmer, that has used (and sometimes
still uses) the cycle and looks forward to playing with
cycle-less programs in V6R1).

Regards,

Luis Rodriguez

--- rpg400-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

------------------------------

message: 7
date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:22:28 -0800
from: James Lampert <jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
subject: Re: Need Some RPG Technical Questions

Lim Hock-Chai wrote:

Jeff - Actually, every RPG program uses default RPG

cycle regardless of

how files is open/close file. Obviously, when I say

cycle programming,

I mean "cycle" programming. Otherwise, James statement

about "Anybody

who would give that answer to "What is The Cycle good

for?" would be

better off using another language." would be

irrelevant.

I'm afraid I have to disagree.
1. You don't have to "use" The Cycle at all (and probably
no more than a
third of the RPG programs I've written, and considerably
fewer of those
I have a hand in maintaining) actually "use" it. You can
bypass it, by
either doing an explicit RETURN, or by explicitly raising
LR, or (as I
understand it, in the latest compilers) you can even
suppress it. The
only thing you CAN'T do is ignore it.

2. In a lot of cases, one uses RPG because it's the only
language
available, or because you're writing something that might
have to be
maintained by someone who doesn't necessarily speak a
language better
suited to the problem at hand, or because the only other
choice that
would work at all is ILE C, and database access from ILE
C is a royal
pain in the <equus asinius>. But if you can't recognize
situations where
using The Cycle can simplify a program, you probably are
better off
using another language.

You don't use every tool every day, but that's no reason
not to know
what the tools you have are good for, and how to use
them.

In my toolbox at home, I have a pair of flush-cut rail
nippers, even
though it's been over two decades since I've laid any
model railroad
tracks. They're not a tool I use every day, and if I
caught somebody
abusing their delicate edges to cut steel wire, I might
be inclined to
use them as a weapon, but every so often, when I need to
cut off a soft
metal or plastic rod flush and square, I reach for the
rail nippers.

--
James H. H. Lampert
Touchtone Corporation

Luis Rodriguez

IBM Certified Systems Expert
eServer i5 iSeries Technical Solutions

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