Re: FREE opcode

[Keith Carpenter <carpcon@xxxxxxx>]

Jerry Adams wrote:
> FREE was usually (always?) used with a called program, especially one 
> that might be invoked multiple times.  The idea, I think, was to erase 
> the program from memory, close files, etc.  Setting on *inLR and issuing 
> a RETURN pretty much does the same thing.  At least, that's the way I 
> terminate a program.

It doesn't close files.  Only frees up the program activation and
memory.  This is one reason it was not used a lot.  Typically most RPG
programs open files and to properly shutdown a subprogram (closing the
files) it was better to pass a parameter telling it to seton LR instead.

Free was fine for a RPG subprogram that had no files and used RT or
retrn without LR. CL programs don't need to be freed.

It should not cause any harm to remove the free opcodes from the ILE
version.  The subprogram being freed might be a good candidate for being
converted to a ILE procedure.

Keith