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On 4/27/17, 1:35 PM, Buck Calabro wrote:
The RPG cycle, as hinted at, comes in several strengths. James is
talking about programs where the F-specification has a Primary file.
Well, that and the even simpler level of using The Cycle as an
event-loop in an interactive program: you handle the "user requests
exit" event by manually raising LR, and you handle the other events --
commands, function keys, subfile options, &c. -- in your own code.
Personally, I've never had to go beyond a primary file (and possibly a
few full procedural files), and never needed level breaks enough to
warrant learning how to handle them through The Cycle. But that's one of
the greatest strengths of The Cycle: you don't NEED to use, or even know
HOW to use, its more esoteric features; just use what's relevant to the
problem at hand.
I defer to Buck's greater experience with the more esoteric features of
The Cycle.
I will also point out that programs are written to solve problems. The
nature of the problem to be solved should dictate the choice of
language, and one should ideally choose the language based on its strengths.
While I tend to avoid "/FREE" like the plague, I'm not going to say that
traditional RPG format is one of the strengths of the language. (I will
say that I wish that instead of trying to make RPG look like PL/I, IBM
had simply upgraded PL/I from an OPM-based PRPQ into an ILE-based LPP.)
On the other hand, The Cycle and scatter-gather I/O most definitely ARE
RPG's greatest strengths; without them, it's just another
run-of-the-mill HLL, with little to recommend it over, say, BASIC.
--
JHHL
midrange.com
