Buck,
In regard to no RPG enhancements, there has been some. Highlighting a /copy line and having the option to open the source. Converting code to free-format. I don't know how long they've been there. And the latest patch has an update to the outline to show where data structure subfields are used. And I'm sure there's more stuff like that, each one a step forward.
However, overall I do agree that RPG does seem to be getting the short end of the stick. As mentioned, where's our real-time outline refresh? Why can't ctrl-space on a procedure call give the names of the parms (based on the prototype which is where it's getting its field definitions)? Why can't ctrl-space show the # of decimals in a definition? Why can't ctrl-space give us a constant value? (And b/c pretty code is readable code, I really really really want color-coded BIFs & procedure calls (the latter would probably require a real-time outline refresh though) - I've been asking that for years.)
I know some of this email is repetition of others, but I wanted to add another voice to the cause. It does feel like the LPEX editor development for RPG has been moved into bug-fix mode vs enhancement. Maybe the problem is that it's a part of a grand multi-purpose package. When I get updates to the NetBeans IDe... lo and behold, I'm getting improvements to developing in Java. I wish the same were true with WDSCi/RDi & RPG.
- Kurt Anderson
-----Original Message-----
From: wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Buck
Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 11:46 AM
To: wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] justifying RDi when WDSCi 'still works'
Joe Pluta wrote:
Dave, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but given your pushback
there's no reason to switch to RDi from WDSC.
I have to concur...
I use both WDSC and RDi all the time; I can tell you that while RDi is
incrementally better, it's not the same productivity enhancement you'll
get switching from ADTS to WDSC, or even from WDSC 5 to WDSC 7.
-snip-
and possibly some more wizards. But think about it - what more exactly
do you expect to see from a development tool?
The problem is the fragmentation in our world. We're supposed to be
moving to the web, but there are many RPG-only developers who will never
use any of the continuous advances in the webby side of RDi. Our shops
are already using .NET or whatever. The point being that there is
already a web team using their own tools.
That leaves a substantial number of RPG-only developers who have not
seen hardly any new goodies in WDSC/RDi for years.
WDSC 5.0 (Apr 2003):
* Still playing catch-up with Code/400
* RPG, COBOL, CL, and DDS syntax checking
* RPG, COBOL, and DDS program verification
* RPG programmers will benefit from an outline view of their source
* Language-sensitive F1 help available from the editor
* Support for persistent markers for quickly accessing specific
locations within source members
* Somewhere in here we got the Eclipse debugger.
WDSC 5.0 to WDSC 5.1 (Sep 2003):
* No RPG enhancements
WDSC 5.1 to WDSC 5.1.2 (Jul 2004):
* No RPG enhancements
WDSC 5.1.2 to WDSC 6.0 (Jul 2005):
* No RPG enhancements
WDSC 6.0 to WDSC 6.0.1 (Feb 2006):
* Syntax checking of free-form calculations while editing ILE RPG source
* V5R4 syntax checking
WDSC 6.0.1 to WDSC V7.0 (Mar 2007):
* Application diagrammer (Advanced edition only)
WDSC 7.0 to RDi V7.1 (Mar 2008):
* i5/OS V6.1 support
* Application diagrammer in basic edition
* Thread debugging
RDi v7.1 to RDi v7.5 (Nov 2008):
* No RPG enhancements
We don't have the most common things the .NET people have enjoyed for
years. How about function completion, for instance? Ctrl+Space. All I
see on V7.0 is (char(50), char(3), char(20), int) and so on. No
description of what the parameters are, even when the function is
defined in the source I'm working on. How about real-time update of the
outline view since it becomes obsolete the moment I insert so much as a
blank line?
Before the hail storm begins: I love WDSC and I use it every day. I'm
not arguing that it's bad. I'm arguing that the IBM development dollars
and hours in the past 6 years have been overwhelmingly spent on web
enhancements, not on RPG enhancements. And when I say RPG, I mean green
screen subfile RPG programmers and RPG business logic programmers who
write service programs and stored procedures for use by the web team.
It is very difficult to ask a manager for $500 per RPG programmer, per
year, forever, when the RPG community aren't actually GETTING anything
for that money based on past performance.
Yes, I'm aware that on paper it's the same price for PDM/SEU, but in
reality that's not true because of the entitlements for PDM/SEU; here in
the trenches if I want to move from WDSC 7.0 to RDi 7.5 I'm going to
have to pay for it; moving from WDSC 7.0 to SEU is free. And most of us
are still fighting THAT battle. Forget about upgrading the GUI, we're
still being asked what's so bad about SEU that we HAVE to use a GUI IDE...
There's no easy answer, that's for sure. I hope the OP can get his
upgrade. I hope I can get mine, too.
--buck
midrange.com
