Do Loops in RPG Whenever I find myself editing some old RPG3 or RPG400 code, I try to spend a coffee* cleaning the code up to a more modern and readable form. * A ‘coffee’ is the amount of time it takes to drink a regular cup of brew. This is slightly shorter than the

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If there was a quick and easy solution to “how to quickly become a productive RPG IV and ILE programmer” then all of us old AS400, iSeries and IBM I developers would have gobbled up that solution in double quick time. But Wait. There might just be Ne. Drinking Tea. If you have read any

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I have a NUMERIC in an RPG program that I want to move RIGHT into an Alpha field. In the old days of RPG3 I would use MOVE but in the new days of RPG4 I have a couple of more flexible solutions. So, lets say we have a numeric field containing the number 1234,

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Modern ILE RPG now (finally) supports “fully free form” RPG Source code This means, we can write RPG code from column 1 to the end of the line — just like other languages. No more jumping to character 10 to get passed the old reserved (H,F,D,I,C,O) specification column. You must code **FREE in column 1

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Upgrade old RPG source code — aka refactoring — is a fun past time There are frequent little code snippets that I refactor over and over again. Some look similar but some look very different in modern language style. It’s perhaps worth documenting them in case someone else is trying to figure out alternative ways

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RPG is not a Rocket Propelled Grenade RPG2 is that Logic Cycle Thing RPG3 is the System/38 version RPG400 is the revamped RPG3 that came with AS400 ​everything after that is RPG… unless its ILE then its RPGLE or sometimes RPG4, or its free format so its RPGLE /Free… or its SQL so its RPGSQL

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RPG Programmers are a strange breed of Human If you are a software developer then you will know that RPG is an IBM programming Language. It’s also a Rocket Propelled Grenade. It’s also an acronym for Role Playing Games. This blog will have lots of waffle about being an RPG Programmer and just the occasional

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*RPG – NO, RPG Developer doesnt mean that I write Role Playing Games, primarily aimed at men in basements pretending they are fit young elven women and running around casting spells 😉 So, as an RPG* Developer I am definitely biased towards IBM’s best and most versatile language. IBM RPG has evolved massively from the

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Twenty years ago these are the kind of things you had to know to work on the old AS400 systems. I found these on an old dusty corner of my homeserver. Enjoy the trip down memory lane or to use old RPG lingo AS400 NERD CABEQ ‘1’  START OLD RPG – RPG400 or COLUMN BASED

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Found some more old documents (I didnt write them so dont shoot the poor AS400 programming messenger) that I’ve decided to move to the forum rather than leave in the dusty corners of my hard drive…..

 

1. Advantages of  ILE:

 

RPG IV is more readable

Allows for greater application modularity with static binding which means there are fewer external calls.

Enhances programmer productivity by allowing greater code re use

Enhances mixed language support by allowing the binding ILE languages  into a single program

Builds a foundation for  the future by moving closer to object oriented design , modular programming and code reuse

 

Enhancements in RPGIV

 

Mixed Case entry permitted

Compiler is not case sensitive 

Compiler can translate mixed case to upper case.

Character names allowed

Full DDS length supported

...
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