Re: new table development (decimal vs numeric)

I've never been able to buy that argument.

The primary purpose of the database is to store/retrieve your data
efficiently.
Appeasing people who want to use DSPPFM shouldn't be a design consideration.

There are lots of tools and presentation layers to let them see that data
however they like.

Are you going to disallow the use of XML, CLOB, BLOB types because they
can't be viewed with DSPPFM?

For normal numeric data - my vote is odd packed every time ( why waste a
nibble? And anyway I worry about the stray nibble )

I have used integer types for auto-gen ID columns and to keep those
JDBC-accessing java types happy, but it sits uneasily with me...

That said, I recognise I seem to be in a minority.

/cough and not just in this regard
/sigh

Craig

On 26 March 2018 at 16:32, Justin Taylor <JUSTIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The other devs here still have a death-grip on DSPPFM, so data that's not
human-readable is always a fight. They've acquiesced for integer data, but
for other numerics I have to stick with human-readable (ie. avoid packed).

I'm not sure it makes a huge difference to the OS, unless you're trying to
wring the absolute most performance possible.



-----Original Message-----
From: Jay Vaughn [mailto:jeffersonvaughn@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2018 9:46 AM
To: RPG programming on the IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries) <
rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: new table development (decimal vs numeric)

In a 60/40 (RPG to Cobol) shop, with no new cobol development...

Aside from special cases where integer and float may be needed...

For common "numeric" data, what is the best standard data type definition,
if choosing from decimal or numeric?

I do know decimal is packed and I have an "impression" that rpg is most
compatible with packed and will convert to packed under the covers when
needed. Not sure what I REALLY mean except that I would lean towards
decimal being the best standard choice in an RPG shop.

What do you think?

--
This is the RPG programming on the IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries) (RPG400-L)
mailing list
To post a message email: RPG400-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/rpg400-l
or email: RPG400-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at https://archive.midrange.com/rpg400-l.

Please contact support@xxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related
questions.

Help support midrange.com by shopping at amazon.com with our affiliate
link: http://amzn.to/2dEadiD