RE: subroutines are bug factories was: Classic Traps -- I need yourinput!

no other languages have them. they are a legacy artifact. In this the

dawn

of the age of i5/OS on superfast, marketpriced Power systems I dont

think

subroutines should be used. I agree it is not necessary to change

existing

code.

Seriously?

No subroutines? No other languages have them? (Hmmm - Perform A thru B
(COBOL), GoSub (Basic), don't remember the PERL syntax but it uses them
- in fact I can't think of a language (including CL now) that _doesn't_
have a subroutine structure.

So I just find that silly. Did you perhaps mean to refer to
subprocedures instead of subroutines? If so - I still wonder about your
reasoning.

I've rarely (or never) seen a "never use a " make sense long term. Every
problem is unique, and I avoid ever saying the we should 'never' use any
particular tool. Find the best tool for the given problem.

And if you have a distinct section of code that 1) Will not be used in
other programs and 2) is invoked frequently in the code, why would you
not want to use subroutines? Why make it more external or fancy than
that?

Given the LeaveSr verb subroutines can be extremely elegant, useful,
organized and maintainable.

Again - best tool for the given problem.

James P. Wiant
Testing Coordinator
Foodstuffs, Auckland, Ltd.
60 Roma Road
Auckland, New Zealand
09-621-0774
jim.wiant@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




Quality has to be caused, not controlled.
Philip Crosby, Reflections on Quality

-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steve Richter
Sent: Tuesday, 1 April 2008 8:43
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Re: subroutines are bug factories was: Classic Traps -- I need
yourinput!

On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 3:33 PM, Francis Lapeyre <flapeyre@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Subprocedures have their place.

And so do subroutines. I have used both where they make sense. But to
suggest that all RPG programs everywhere have subprocedures instead of
subroutines is arbitrary and capricious thinking. Change merely for
change's
sake is never a good idea.

no other languages have them. they are a legacy artifact. In this the
dawn
of the age of i5/OS on superfast, marketpriced Power systems I dont
think
subroutines should be used. I agree it is not necessary to change
existing
code.

-Steve