Re: [V4, positional]: Converting decimal to string without leading zeros

Hello John,

Am 10.06.2021 um 02:04 schrieb John Yeung <gallium.arsenide@xxxxxxxxx>:

Second, there's a certain beauty to me in having a rigid format to follow.

While I can appreciate the fun of sticking to artificial constraints, I am simply a bit confused about *which* constraints you are adhering to.

If you find it acceptable to use %CHAR, then how is it not acceptable to use %EOF or %FOUND, for example?

It's a mix of established habit and not following a strict set of rules regarding that. :-) But you certainly have a point. Allow me to think over that.

One important area where I'm deliberately using indicators is when I want to reflect program state in a display file. EOF of a file, BOF of a file. I can test within the program for the indicators being set to handle these cases gracefully, and at the same time have automatically the conditioning indicators for DSPF elements.

If you're allowing yourself %CHAR, then you must be using Extended Factor 2. Once you get that, strings are vastly less painful.

True enough. But still less space as in, for example, C. Even if I restrict myself to 80 chars in width, a bit of indenting and the (s)printf in front, there's much more space than what's wasted until I'm allowed to write EVAL in what looks like the middle of the horizontal space. :-)

Don't get me wrong, I'm *not* complaining. Just pointing out that while I'm in general perfectly fine with positional RPG, there are areas, where I switch to something else. Since I know C syntax better, this is my choice. And, even that code can run on very old systems if done with that goal in mind.

the statement I'm quoting is "static strings [are] truly PITA in positional RPG". And my contention is: well, if "positional RPG" includes Extended Factor 2, then positional RPG also includes BIFs and continuation lines, and if you have all of those things, then static strings are not really all THAT painful.)

True. Not *that*. But still… See above.

:wq! PoC