Re: RPG overloading (was RPGV?)

Bob P. Roche wrote:

Isn't one of the features of prototyping calls that always gets pointed out, "the compiler checks your data to make sure you don't have a mismatch"? If the compiler is just going to change my data to whatever it thinks it needs, how is that helping me not make a mistake and reverse parms? I know it will get caught in testing, but prototyping was supposed to save me from this kind of mistake at compile time, unless I specifically told it not to by using CONST.

I guess if all the parameters had slightly different types, you could get that kind of parameter-order check.

But to ensure that check was reliable, you'd have to avoid using CONST and VALUE and you'd have to give a slightly different data type to each parameter. Those seem like awkward restrictions to deal with.

Prototyping was supposed to save you from making type and size mistakes with individual parameters, but there was no particular intention that RPG programmers would use the parameter checks to make sure the parameters were passed in the right order.

But ... that's one of the scenarios that would have to be considered when deciding whether there would be a new keyword or whether the behaviour would just change.

This reminds me of a few complaints when the LR indicator was made optional on the READ opcode. People complained that the editor didn't forced them to code the indicator, so they also forgot to code the eof check.