Re: For all those COMMON old-timers

[Vern Hamberg <vhamberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Patrik

I don't think I made these comments, they might have been in an email I 
was responding to.

But to respond, CVTRPGSRC doesn't convert anything to RPG III+, whatever 
that is (it's not an official version according to IBM) - here is the 
opening statement of the help text for CVTRPGSRC -

> The Convert RPG Source (CVTRPGSRC) command converts RPG III or RPG/400 
> source code to ILE RPG source code. 

I did search for references to RPG III+ and found a post by our honored 
Charles Wilt from 2014, where he posted terms he uses personally to 
differentiate things - 
https://archive.midrange.com/rpg400-l/201404/msg00090.html

BM, in the ILE RPG Reference, says this -

> This reference provides a detailed description of the RPG IV language. 
> It does not provide information on how to use the ILE RPG compiler or 
> how to convert RPG III programs to ILE RPG

This, to me, seems to differentiate between the language that is used to 
create compiled objects that operate in an environment, the Integrated 
Language Environment, which describes how objects created from different 
source types can all work together - ah, there's the word, "Environment".

So does it matter? Probably not all that much. I see RPG IV as a 
language with various syntax rules. It can have fixed or free form - it 
still can have both, even after the **free enhancement.

We civilians do seem to have a way of modifying IBM's terminology for 
whatever reasons - IBM's acronym for Access Client Solutions is ACS, yet 
some in the community call it iACS. I have considered that an 
unnecessary change but can understand it. Another example could be IBM's 
own doing - IBM i will often be displayed without the space - as IBMi - 
because people get very tired of undoing MS Word's auto-conversion of a 
single letter "i" to uppercase - we all know about this, so I've said 
enough on a Saturday morning.

Best to y'all (practicing my Texas accent for POWERUp in Fort Worth!(
VErn

On 3/23/2024 6:25 AM, Patrik Schindler wrote:
> Hello Vern,
>
> Am 22.03.2024 um 22:46 schrieb VERNON HAMBERG Owner via MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
> > And I'd have probably said CVTRPGSRC to turn it into RPG III+
> >
> > I don't consider such source to be RPG IV unless you add some RPG IV only syntax.
> Technically, your consideration is wrong, because RPG IV has different positions within a line compared to RPG III. Much more space for longer variable names, etc.
>
> :wq! PoC