Re: Modernising a monolith ile program

[Jeff Young <cooljeff913@xxxxxxxxx>]

Rory,
The program is very difficult to maintain in its present form, and I was 
thinking that if there were separate modules for each function, that future 
maintenance would be easier.

Jeff Young 
Sr. Programmer Analyst






________________________________
From: Rory Hewitt <rory.hewitt@xxxxxxxxx>
To: RPG programming on the IBM i / System i <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thu, June 30, 2011 11:11:29 AM
Subject: Re: Modernising a monolith ile program

Jeff,

My first question would be "Why are you changing it at all?"...

Is it broken, or is it just that you'd prefer a more modular application
(perhaps for ease of future maintenance) or what?

Unless you NEED to change it, it sounds like an example of a program that
should be left alone.

Just my $0.02, of course.

Rory
On Jun 30, 2011 7:28 AM, "Jeff Young" <cooljeff913@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Vern,
> This program has 7 possible functions, each distinct from each other based
on
> the record in the display file that they are processing.  Some of the
functions
> are not stand alone but get called from within another routine and depend
on
> variables from within that routine.  In addition, most of the functions
have a
> common function that they execute.  How should this be handled?
> Is it best to keep those together or separate them into separate modules?
> Since each of the routines is accessing a display file format, how do I
handle
> that from within a module?
> At the present time, there are subprocedures that are common to multiple
> functions within the program, but have no revelance outside it.  Should I
create
> a service program for them?
>
>
> All suggestions appreciated.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jeff Young
> Sr. Programmer Analyst
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Vern Hamberg <vhamberg@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: RPG programming on the IBM i / System i <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thu, June 30, 2011 9:39:07 AM
> Subject: Re: Modernising a monolith ile program
>
> Jeff
>
> Seems we'd need to see more in order to reply well, but I'll give you
> just one idea.
>
> To pass common data, use parameters - pass only what is needed in the
> module - maybe put it all into a data structure, so there is only one
> parameter to pass.
>
> Not sure about separating procedures, but if something is called more
> than once, maybe it should be put into a service program.
>
> You call this monolithic - that usually means that everything is in one
> code source - that doesn't seem to be the case here, right?
>
> Unless the display functionality is used in other programs, I'd keep it
> inside this program - reserve service programs for things that are
> needed by several programs - or at least more than one!
>
> I'm not even sure I'd move different display stuff into separate modules
> - each would need its own F-spec, right? Maybe what is DONE after doing
> the EXFMT and all could be separated, but that could get unwieldy, too,
> methinks.
>
> HTH
> Vern
>
> On 6/30/2011 8:14 AM, Jeff Young wrote:
> > I have an old ILE RPG program that uses subprocedures and service
programs,
> but
> > performs multiple separate and distinct functions.  This program is an
> > interactive program that uses a display file with multiple formats for
each
> > function.
> > What is the best way to separate the separate functions into modules and
then
> > bind into one program?
> > Some of the functions depend on common data that is derived from the
initial
> > parms passed to the program.
> > Should I split my display file into separate files for each function?
> > Use the full display file in each module and ignore the formats that are
not
> > used?
> > How do I pass the common data needed between modules?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Jeff Young
> > Sr. Programmer Analyst
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