RE: Good places to use "The Cycle" in today's RPG was->Re: FW: Niftiest thing(s) you have done in RPG ILE or /FREE

James,

The way your mind works is almost a good way to put it, though I think it would be more accurate to say the way you were trained. That is, you apparently started with RPG III or IV, and never had to Pass Go (II). That's fair. I have a colleague in town that started on an AS/400; when she saw RPG II code she nearly barfed. I've trained programmers (in a previous incarnation) and my observation is that RPG II programmers can wrap their minds around III and IV much easier than a III/IV programmer can come to grips with II. I suppose that's why I had such a hard time learning COBOL: Too many things you *had* to do that RPG does for me. But now with the EXTFILE( ) keyword, no Input Primary, and /free format, I often feel like I'm back to COBOL!

Jerry C. Adams
IBM System i Programmer/Analyst
B&W Wholesale
office: 615-995-7024
email: jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of James Perkins
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 3:16 PM
To: RPG programming on the IBM i / System i
Subject: Re: Good places to use "The Cycle" in today's RPG was->Re: FW: Niftiest thing(s) you have done in RPG ILE or /FREE

I do use free for anything new I write. I update plenty of fixed format
code, but if I add a bunch of logic to it I generally write a subprocedure
to handle it in free.

Okay, so I guess hate was a little strong :-). I still personally don't see
a good use for it, but after all is said and done I don't really hate it
either. It could just be the way my mind works though.

I can't even imagine not having entry parameters. I don't know what I would
do. It did make me realize that's probably why JBA uses the LDA so much.

James R. Perkins


On Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 13:00, rick baird <rick.baird@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

So do you just put a DO-ENDDO around ALL the logic? If so, never thought

of

that before.

It's just an example. I could do it, but I don't. I've never needed
to do an unconditional goto in my code that couldn't be wrapped in
some sort of IF, DO, FOR, whatever.

Also, if your using level breaks doesn't that allow you to not use free
format?

I believe the cycle is not allowed in when using free.

I'm only asking because I don't know. Some of my issues with cycle maybe
just be I've never taken the time to learn it.

it's a common issue. I don't really care if people decide never to
use it, but to criticize it just because they don't understand it is
lame. imo.

If you're using free exclusively, that's a pretty good excuse not to
use the cycle.

I can recall not too long ago I found a program what was using Ux
indicators. I had no idea what they were. I had to ask one of my

co-workers

and they got a chuckle out of it.

yeah, the time before dinosaurs and entry parms..... ;-) Where I'm
at now, I'm fighting LDA every day. that's the breaks!
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