RE: procedure parameter names

All,

Nice to see the discussion is still going on. Birgitta, I did not expect you to have such problems also.

Just finished with a team meeting on parameter naming among other things!

Here's a procedure name :

AcqGrtGidOut

Here's one of it's parameters declared on a data dictionary field, ALTNU, so it's name is coded as AnAltNu. <An> because it begins with a vowel.

As it is a subfield of a DS, it's program name is :

AnAcqGrtGidOut.AnAltNu - obviously a parameter used for output.


This is what I managed to negociate :
OAcqGrtGid.AltNu

ie, I/O + procedure name + data dictionary name.

Not much, I admit <sniff>.

Thanks to Simon Coulter, I was able to show why we used <An> before a vowel, and how ridiculous that was given that our names are in French. Pity I did not find much concrete examples other than Larry's RateEffectiveDate which I read too late. I've never worked in another RPG shop before and with the rest of the team seemingly not bothered, well, no use in banging my head against a wall.

Thanks anyway.

-----Message d'origine-----
De : rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] De la part de Dennis Lovelady
Envoyé : jeudi 20 mai 2010 14:54
À : 'RPG programming on the IBM i / System i'
Objet : RE: procedure parameter names

I agree with all of this. Especially with your ability to
say it without attacking anyone!

Dennis Lovelady
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dennislovelady
--
"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns
on the set I go into the other room and read a book."
-- Groucho Marx

The key to change is to influence from within. If a naming

convention

does not work then you "should" seek to change it. If it makes you
less productive you "should" petition the person(s)

responsible for an

appropriate change. It is the responsibility of all

developers to keep

the standards alive.

Some naming conventions exist because they are just that -

conventions.

The OP has a prime example - they have parameters with

names beginning

with the letter 'A' but nobody knows why. Yet they continue the
practice. That seems ludicrous. It is more tradition than

convention.

While I agree that naming conventions are important - they

absolutely

must be useful and relevant. If they are not then they are

simply that

thing "we have always done". That may be good when

changing the guard

at Buckingham Palace, or swearing in a new President, but in IT
traditionalists are not particularly in demand. We

constantly adapt to

new technologies and paradigms. If our standards and

methodologies do

not evolve with our capabilities they become stale, irrelevant, and
ultimately restrictive. That is not good and should never

be allowed

to happen if you want to continue to effectively support

the growth of

your business.

Cheers

Larry Ducie

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