Re: Quick question on indicators - more philosophical than anything else

Tommy,
Agreed and that would be the only exception.....Legacy code......

Nobody should ever write new files that have anything other than a date /
time data type.




From:
Tommy.Holden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To:
RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:
05/13/2008 04:34 PM
Subject:
Re: Quick question on indicators - more philosophical than anything
else



unfortunate folks who inherited the database have to use them...or rewrite

everything that touches the files. that's what i have to live with. all
the new tables/files are created using DDL and time/date/timestamp
fields...no more fiddling with numeric (or worse character) date fields.

Thanks,
Tommy Holden



From:
Doug Palme <DPalme@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To:
RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:
05/13/2008 04:14 PM
Subject:
Re: Quick question on indicators - more philosophical than anything
else



Joe,
Do not even get me started on dates......it is the biggest pet peeve of
mine why anyone is still using anything other than a date data type in a
file.....





From:
Joe Pluta <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To:
RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:
05/13/2008 04:06 PM
Subject:
Re: Quick question on indicators - more philosophical than anything else



Doug Palme wrote:

Is anyone still using the old indicator style of INKC, INKA, etc.?

I've almost entirely moved to using numbered indicators (CA03 03),
because then I can use an INDDS and then change them to named
indicators. Some folks prefer the INFDS approach, but I don't.
However, this is one of those few instances where I can't argue tooth
and nail for my position - I don't have a good reason why I prefer
numbered indicators over INFDS. I guess I like write (if ExitKey)
rather than (if key = Exit).

Is there any reason why this should even be used today?

Nope. I can't think of a good reason to use *INKx anymore. In fact,
the only indicator I can see ever showing up in a program is *INLR.

I know some are advocating using no indicators at all in a

program....but

is that not one of the strengths of RPG?

This is a philosophical point. Indicators were great for the original
RPG because space was at a premium and indicators allowed you to test
three conditions using only 9 columns. Way cool. But these days, the
very idea of a numbered indicator is just not justifiable. Named
indicators, sure - they're basically a set of Boolean flags you send
primarily to your user interface to interact with the user. But I can't
see any reason for numbered indicators any more than I can justify
2-digit years.

Joe