Re: New to RPG

I truly fail to understand the abject terror some people seem to have about The Cycle. I can understand abject terror about doing mass updates via SQL, but not about The Cycle.

The nice thing about The Cycle is that you can use as much or as little as is appropriate to a given task.

I've written dozens of Cycle programs. I ride The Cycle anytime I need to pass through an entire file, and DO SO WITH A LEVEL OF CONTROL THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE WITH SQL.

With regard to using SQL to do some mass-update to a file, the VERY IDEA gives me nightmares. Using the SQL approach for that can SCREW UP A LOT OF RECORDS VERY FAST, WITH NO WAY TO HALT THE CARNAGE AT ONE DAMAGED RECORD. Using explicit reads in an explicit do-loop instead of what's already built into the language is sometimes necessary, to be sure, but often it just amounts to re-inventing the wheel.

Likewise, modern interactive programs tend to run inside an event-loop of some kind; The Cycle provides a perfectly serviceable built-in event-loop.

Level breaks? Secondary files? I can't recall ever using either one, and I certainly couldn't tell you how to do so (if I ever DID have a clue how they work).

But above all else, either ride The Cycle, or disable The Cycle, but NEVER, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES IGNORE IT. If you ignore it, one of two things will happen: either (a) your program will fail to compile, with a message to the effect that the compiler cannot determine how it will end, or (b) The Cycle will run you over.

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JHHL