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Status Not under consideration
Workspace IBM i
Categories Languages - RPG
Created by Guest
Created on Dec 8, 2017

RELATED IDEAS

Minimize the use of semicolons in free RPG

The function of semicolon as end-of-statement in free RPG could be optionally replaced by that of start-of-continuation-line.

This way the end of a statement would be indicated by the newline character provided that the first non-blank character of the following non-empty line is not a semicolon.

To achieve this a new pair *ENDOFSTMT/*NOENDOFSTMT or similar could be added to the OPTION parameter of the CRTRPGMOD command.


Use Case:

Instead of having to code this:

dcl-f FILE1 DISK USROPN
EXTDESC('EXTFILE1');

dcl-ds *N;
RtnCode int(10)
// Comment
INZ(0);
RtnText char(80);
end-ds;

if RtnCode = 1 or
RtnCode = 2;
RtnText = 'Code ' + %char(RtnCode) + ': ' +
'Text';
endif;

We would be able to code:

dcl-f FILE1 DISK USROPN
; EXTDESC('EXTFILE1')

dcl-ds *N
RtnCode int(10)
// Comment
; INZ(0)
RtnText char(80)
end-ds

if RtnCode = 1 or
; RtnCode = 2
RtnText = 'Code ' + %char(RtnCode) + ': ' +
; 'Text'
endif


Idea priority Low
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Dec 12, 2017

    IBM does not intend to provide a solution to this request, so it is being closed.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Dec 11, 2017

    The goal expressed in the headline is good, but the implementation suggested in the details is awkward & confusing.

    Instead of semi-colons we should recognize that use of whitespace had always been an attribute of RPG prior to **free, but it wasn't done well. Looking at other languages that make effective use of whitespace reveals a language that does it right: Python.

    RPG should adopt Pythonic conventions on whitespace & semi-colons.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Dec 11, 2017

    Agree with Jon Paris - I don't see any reason for this other than to confuse people further. A method has already been chosen that is somewhat similar to other languages - let's stick with it and move on to other things.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Dec 10, 2017

    "I really don't see how this helps do anything but make the code more confusing to read. It also makes the language even more non-standard that it currently is."

    +1

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Dec 9, 2017

    I really don't see how this helps do anything but make the code more confusing to read. It also makes the language even more non-standard that it currently is.

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