Luis, this IS a "big deal". This is substance, productivity enhancer, and if you like RPG, you want to bring in new blood. Neither the fixed-form nor the mixed-form will do this for most. It's limited enough that the hardware is out of the reach of the pockets of most and that to play with it requires using a hardware-specific host service.
The only other "fixed-or-mixed-format" language I know of is maybe Python with >only< the indentation, which I haven't done much with but gets highest praise from good long-time coders that try it.
I've expected this ever since C-specs got free form.
Dave, Looks a little ugly now but we'll get used to it. I believe they thought long and hard about the syntax. Comments from Barbara support thinking this way. Any of us probably would have thought up some other kind of sugar on it, I did, but it is what it is, and it's better than it was! (in my opinion).
I haven't done externally described files in C, at least yet, but how much you bet it'll be lots prettier in free-form RPG?
Alan (the other one, not me), I'm sorry the places you've been don't encourage using the new syntax tools in RPG, and the programmers rest in the past. Just keep truckin', they'll either come along eventually or their shops will close, or you'll find yourself in a "good" shop. New positions want newer skills. Keep pushing it, they'll come along. You sew the seed, somebody else waters it, eventually it will grow in some places... :-)
Although I do wish the rest of them would get with the program....
As for this: " I would agree with that but then why are they putting all this new stuff into the RPG IV except to keep us happy? It sure isn't for the 90% writing RPG III in RPG IV. They could care less."
I say this: It enhances productivity for those who do use it, and like others said, 90% is probably just reflective of where you happen to have been. RPG III coders are fading into the same sunset as the RPG II coders, and RPG IV coders are taking ever more percentage of the coding space. RPG III coding WILL decrease, and free-form RPG-IV WILL increase and it's just going to happen anyway.
To the matter of Jon's comment:
"...Removing capability is also much more complex than simply commenting out a few lines. The additional testing that would be required of the new compiler would be massive. There's a reason that there was a big test team when RPG IV was launched - they expended enormous amounts of resource to make sure it still worked the me way - this would be no different...."
This is something I have always appreciated. The compilers out of Toronto are so free of bugs and glitches that they deserve lots of applause. It is amazing to me. They already have to backtrack things, they have done lots to help us smoothly transition into new tools and making it easier for those who are reluctant. Not even so long ago I changed some OCL (ugh) in a shop that did use the new tools for new stuff (except half the coders who did just Cobol) and I was surprised to find that it took CL commands just fine!
So it's not just the expense, it helps RPG coders stay productive while adapting the new tools and adapting to them.
Alan
-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Luis Rodriguez
Sent: Monday, October 07, 2013 1:59 PM
To: RPG programming on the IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries)
Subject: Re: Free format H, F, D and P specs
On Mon, Oct 7, 2013 at 1:17 PM, Jon Paris <jon.paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
on
Agree 100%. What I like most of the new syntax is that the /FREE /END-FREE combo won't be needed anymore. Nice!! Now, if I only could make management agree on a new IBM i :-(
On the other hand, maybe the "hype" before the real announcement was a little too much. I was hoping something with more "substance". Maybe some new BIFs or something like that...
Regards,
Luis Rodriguez
IBM Certified Systems Expert - eServer i5 iSeries
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