Midrange Stuff, OS/400 Edition

Free-format RPG and Profound Logic Software's RPG-Alive share some interesting similarities. Both strive to break the bounds of traditional RPG to make coding easier and more efficient, in RPG-Alive's case by continually updating a color-coded outline of the source code's structure as you program, and in free-format RPG's case by eliminating columnar restrictions, giving it a more Java- or C-like appearance. Programmers also tend to either love or hate these two techniques, so it shouldn't come as a great surprise that RPG-Alive now supports free-format RPG.

Last week Profound Logic announced a new release of its source code analysis tool, RPG-Alive 2.6.4. In this release, RPG-Alive provides its dynamic outlining for free-format RPG structures as an option. The color-coded outline is intended to give RPG-Alive users additional visual cues to determine the relationship and connection of the free-format RPG code in between the /FREE and /END-FREE blocks.

Syntax highlighting in RPG-Alive should also help free-format coders get up to speed with the new free-format RPG syntax, which replaces many traditional RPG operation codes that programmers have had to memorize, which are no longer supported in the free-format version of ILE RPG. The syntax highlighting feature is basically a hinting tool that can automatically fill in the remainder of RPG keyword or built-in function for a programmer. "It shows you, on the fly, how to program this specific RPG operation," said Alex Roytman, the founder of Profound Logic and the creator of RPG-Alive.

IBM quietly brought free-format RPG to the iSeries last year with the release of OS/400 V5R1. OS/400 V5R1 was the biggest release of OS/400 ever and included many new products and capabilities that overshadowed the free-format programming option. Despite the general lack of publicity (or excitement) about the arrival of free-format RPG, the shift is a significant one and comes after nearly a decade of debate within the AS/400 development community about the merits of a modern RPG variant.

As with free-format RPG, some purist RPG programmers have expressed concern with RPG-Alive because it affects programmers' interaction with the code. Roytman defends his product by noting that RPG-Alive never alters the source code, works on top of and complements Source Edit Utility and PDM, and automatically generates the outline without any special actions from the programmer. "It helps programmers in a non-intrusive but proactive manner," Roytman said. "There's very little learning required. It's not new stuff; it's improving stuff you already know."

Other enhancements in RPG-Alive 2.6.4 are targeted toward RPG syntax highlighting, debug source outlining, and indented source code printing. The new source outlining feature gives programmers the same color-coded outlines in debugging editors as they enjoy in typical source code editors. The enhanced indented source code printing feature gives programmers the capability to print and examine their code when it's compiled without actually having to compile the code using the "compile listing" view, which leads to extraneous information on the printout, Roytman said.

RPG-Alive 2.6.4 also brings compatibility for two additional 5250 emulation products, including IP Client, from Synapse Communications, and BOSaNOVA, from Better On-line Solutions. These products are added to the list of 5250 emulators that RPG-Alive already supported, which includes IBM's iSeries Access (formerly Client Access), WRQ's Reflection, and NetManage's RUMBA.

Roytman says more than 1,000 programmers at about 400 companies in 25 countries are currently using RPG-Alive. Many more have downloaded the free 30-day trial version of the software. RPG-Alive license fees range from $795 to $2,995 per AS/400 or iSeries server, depending on the processor group. For more information, visit www.rpgalive.com.