RE: Flat File Help?

[Buck Calabro <buck.calabro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jim wrote:
>><snip>  ...  Could anyone tell me where I might find some
>>information or an example of a program that reads a
>>flat file? Any help would greatly be appreciated.   <endsnip>

>It has always been my understanding that a 'flat file' is 
>a database that is NOT a "relational database". 
>
>Us old RPG programmers know about these flat files 
>and the RPG cycle!

Jim,

It's good that _you_ have an understanding of what "flat file" means, but
can you speak to the original poster's understanding?  Are you sure it's not
a file in the IFS?  Very often, programmers are wont to ask for a solution
to a technical problem, when the REAL problem goes unaddressed.  The REAL
problem has to do with solving a business problem, no?  If the poster has
asked about trying to read a file off a tape using RPG, we could have
directed her (sorry but "a b" just isn't enough to be able to do more than
guess at a pronoun) to SEQ files, program described and the first chapter in
every RPG book ever written (the 80-80 list).

We could easily be addressing the wrong problem by describing I-specs: what
if she needs to be able to understand the output from DMPTAP or even DSPPFM?

Buck
RPG cycling, level breaking, lookingahead, matching record, 80 column card
programmer since before there was a CHAIN op-code.
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