Re: procedure parameter names

On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 9:34 AM, David FOXWELL <David.FOXWELL@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I agree with you, Dennis, but I'm not setting any standards. I've just been asked my opinion that's all. At the moment, thanks to Simon, I have a good reason for getting rid of names beginning with <An> but that's not gonna make a huge difference.

We've always used the same data dictionary. It's always been the same DDS file with 5 character names, 2 syllables of 3 and 2 characters respectivlely. When RPG4 came, we were able to import this file for all our variable/parameter declarations, eg
D  ADosTy                             LIKE(Dictionnary_DOSTY)

So, noone has to think or search in able to declare the dossier type.

No one who's been there 10 years perhaps, but I bet a new guy would.

In fact, I'd be willing to bet there's at least a few names that
anybody or everybody has too look up because they aren't used very
often and thus they don't come immediately to mind.

Unfortunately, the dictionnary has never evolved, which is probably why we are stuck with the short variable names.

Perhaps it's time for the dictionary to evolve?

IMHO, you're dictionary should provide for both a long and a short name.

The long name should be used whenever possible. SQL DDL, DDS ALIAS,
and RPGIV. It's unfortunate that RPGIV didn't get the ability to
import the DDS ALIAS or SQL long name till 7.1.

On the other hand, procedure names have become long and in my opinion misused eg :
D AcqDatDrnCmmAdh...
D                 PR              N

Here we have 5 groups of 3 characters each one an abreviation of something.

Now, if I were to code
D GetLastCommandDate...
D                 PR              N

I'd get my knuckles rapped. Now, if you've got any good advice on how to get things moving in the right direction, I'd be
very grateful.

You won't find anybody who'd say AcqDatDrnCmmAdh is a good procedure
name. That includes RPG guru's like Scott, Jon, and Chuck along with
guru's from other languages.

On the other hand, everybody would say that GetLastCommandDate is at
least a decent name.

HTH,
Charles