RE: enhancement idea for ILE RPG IV free-form

So a blank in the 6th position would dictate that it's /free? So long as the compiler understands that a blank line between two D-specs isn't really a free format C-spec.

This would be nice, and I may open up a DCR (b/c once I found out how...), but this really doesn't provide any functionality. Clean code is nice, though.

I just opened a request asking for the 2nd parameter of the %kds BIF to be allowed to be a variable (as opposed to constant-only).


-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mark S. Waterbury
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 1:38 PM
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: enhancement idea for ILE RPG IV free-form

Hello, all:

I want to see what the group thinks of this idea...

Instead of having to code /free and /end-free, to drop into free form
and back out again, why not just let the compiler make the decision, on
a line-by-line basis, depending on the presence of the "C" in the column
(for C-specs)? If the "C" is there, treat the line as fixed format. If
there is a blank in that column, then we are in /free format.

This would make it much easier to intermix fixed-format statements and
free-form statements, as and when needed, and also would just make the
code look better, as all of those (meaningless, except to the compiler)
/free and /end-free statements can be eliminated.

Should we all start opening DCRs for this? :-)

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

All the best,

Mark S. Waterbury