Someone asked me about what IBM midrange programming was like in the days before the AS/400. I am old enough to have first worked on the IBM System/36, learning RPGII. One of my most treasured possessions was a "RPG Debugging Template", this folded piece of card had all of RPGII specifications on each fold. This could then be use on a green bar print of a program to determine which column various operations and indicators were in and, therefore, would help me determine what the code would do.
I know it came in a two-card set. I thought I had both. After going through all of the draws in my desk I could only find the one with the specifications I used the most:
- Control, or Header, specification (H)
- File specification (F)
- Input specification (I)
- Calculation spécification (C)
- Output specification (O)
- Extension specification (E)
- Line counter specification (L)
- Select/sort specification (S)
- Telecommunication specification (T)
- Option, or Auto, specification (U)
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Some of the above were also found in the IBM System/38's RPGIII, and when the AS/400 was launched became part of RPG/400. Then some were adapted to become part of RPGIV (RPGLE).
Each evolution was progress, and I am so glad that modern RPG has evolved to become free. No longer am I limited by columns or the RPG cycle.
While there may still be millions, or even billions, of lines of RPG code in columns. My hope is as modernization makes its way through the IBM i community old RPG will be replaced by the newer, and more efficient, modern RPG.
If you are interested in nostalgia, like this, I have other posts showing:
I used one when I was learning RPG, and still have it, but never used it professionally.
ReplyDeleteI started on the S/34 and still have mine together with my Flowchart Template somewhere.
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