Re: Describing RPG IV

["James H H Lampert" <jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Chris Pando" wrote:
> I do this [access files whose names are not known at
> compile time] all the time. Before calling the program,
> I'll do a DSPFFD (of the 'unknown file) to an outfile,
> and then open the file as program-described, mapped to a
> buffer. . . . It isn't difficult, much less 
> extremely difficult. . . .
Uh, do a DSPFFD to an outfile before calling the 
program?!?
While I'll admit that this sounds potentially a bit easier 
to deal with than QUSLRCD and QUSLFLD, much less QDBRTVFD, 
it also sounds like a slow and messy way to get the 
meta-data.
But  getting the meta-data is only part of the battle. 
Until EXTFILE was added (and thank God the designers set 
THAT up so that the object of the clause can be a 
variable!), you had to use an OVRDBF just to get the file 
to open.
=====

"Roger Harman" wrote (about my own stab):
> By the end of the second sentence, they're
> comatose, and soon after that they're dead.  It'll be 
> another example of
My point was that the OP's original description was one 
that managed to completely ignore everything that 
differentiates RPG from almost any other programming 
language, or RPG IV from any other RPG dialect. In 
particular, it mentioned neither The Cycle, nor the 
language's close integration with DB2/400, and quite 
frankly, if you're not taking advantage of at least one of 
these characteristics, you're probably better off using a 
different language.
--
JHHL