Re: Why you shouldn't be afraid to use VARCHAR in RPGLE


Hi Paul and Javier,

first - I think it would be great, to have a C-like ternary operator, and yes, the example of Javier was a bit odd.

>> boolVal = (a = b ? 0: 1)

In real C this should be: boolVal = (a == b ? 0 : 1)

But the C compiler wouldn't warn you, that you should have used the "==" comparison operator instead of the "=" assignment operator. But we don't have that problem in RPG, as the RPG compiler switches the "=" operator between assignment and comparison depending on context.

In RPG you already can to this instead: boolVal = ( a = b );

But a real ? operator would be cool: charVal = ( a = b ? 'equal' : 'not equal' );

There are already is an idea for a ternary operator: https://ibm-power-systems.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/IBMI-I-1417

Regards,
Daniel


> Am 11.12.2025 um 16:59 schrieb Javier Sanchez <[email protected]>:
> Paul,
> 
> "C" has it as a native language for over decades.  Can't see why that would
> be complex for them to follow and make it available for devs.
> Of course, and WADR, you need to "know what you are doing" with your return
> value.  That is kind of your intellectual work.
> Efficiency and cleanliness of code is vital for modern languages. Elegant
> code is, and simplicity is a major goal in our era.
> 
> JS
> 
> El jue, 11 dic 2025 a las 9:50, Paul Therrien via RPG400-L (<
> [email protected]>) escribió:
> 
>> Not knowing 'C' I asked Google.
>> 
>> Google AI says this:
>> 
>> The statement boolVal = (a = b ? 0: 1) in C is a syntactically valid but
>> potentially confusing use of the ternary operator and assignment operator
>> within a single expression [1].
>> 
>> What it does
>> Essentially, the line of code is a verbose way of setting boolVal based on
>> whether b is zero or not, while simultaneously changing the value of a:
>> If b is 0: a becomes 1, and boolVal becomes 1.
>> If b is non-zero: a becomes 0, and boolVal becomes 0.
>> 
>> I think I can see why IBM might not be in a hurry to handle this request.
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: RPG400-L <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Javier
>> Sanchez
>> Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2025 10:12 AM
>> To: RPG programming on IBM i <[email protected]>
>> Subject: Re: Why you shouldn't be afraid to use VARCHAR in RPGLE
>> 
>> Vern,
>> I believe I saw this once already posted, not sure, but if necessary, I
>> will put it in as an IBM Ideas item.
>> On the side of IBM, this could be something rather obvious, and probably
>> not wait to have it submitted, WADR.
>> JS
>> 
>> El jue, 11 dic 2025 a las 9:04, Vern Hamberg via RPG400-L (<
>> [email protected]>) escribió:
>> 
>>> Javier
>>> Have you submitted this as an Idea? IBM do listen to us, and I'm very
>>> impressed about that.
>>> *Regards*
>>> *Vern Hamberg*
>>> IBM Champion 2025 <cid:[email protected]> CAAC
>>> (COMMON Americas Advisory Council) IBM Influencer 2023
>>> On 12/11/2025 8:14 AM, Javier Sanchez wrote:
>>>> Thanks Barbara.  Nothing better than explanations coming from the
>>> creators
>>>> of the compiler.  Of course you guys know what all that means and
>>>> your contributions will always be appreciated.
>>>> BTW, I have wondered a lot why you guys have not yet implemented the
>>> C-like
>>>> expression as:
>>>> boolVal = (a = b ? 0: 1);
>>>> This is not only necessary for modern RPG but it should have been
>>> provided
>>>> long time ago! :-)
>>>> JS
>>>> El mié, 10 dic 2025 a las 22:04, Barbara Morris
>>>> (<[email protected]>)
>>>> escribió:
>>>>> On 2025-12-10 12:25 p.m., James H. H. Lampert via RPG400-L wrote:
>>>>>> On 12/10/25 4:06 AM, Infodorado InfoDorado via RPG400-L wrote:
>>>>>>> The RPG compiler is a single-pass compiler
>>>>>> No, it can't be pure single-pass. If it were, then a program in
>>>>>> which a variable is NOT defined in a D-spec, nor in the first
>>>>>> C-spec in which
>>> it
>>>>>> appears, would not compile, much less run. And it's trivially
>>>>>> simple to construct an example of this (it took me about 2
>>>>>> minutes), and it compiles and runs just fine. I'd quote the source
>>>>>> here, but it would likely be mangled beyond recognition.
>>>>> It's a single pass through the source but it gathers information
>>>>> that it can use multiple times.
>>>>> The compiler usually allows forward-referencing, so you can code
>>>>> LIKE(x) where x is defined later.
>>>>> But for free-form definitions, the compiler requires the parameter
>>>>> for the data-type keywords to be defined before the keyword is seen.
>>>>>     dcl-s x char(con1);  // bad, con1 not defined yet
>>>>>     dcl-c con1 5;
>>>>>     dcl-s y char(con1);  // ok, con1 is defined
>>>>> Where it becomes extra fun is when you have a data structure that
>>>>> LOOKS defined.
>>>>>     dcl-ds ds1;
>>>>>        subf char(10);
>>>>>     end-ds;
>>>>>     dcl-s x char(%size(ds1));  // %size(ds1) is not defined. WHAT???
>>>>> RPG allows you to define the length of a data structure later,
>>>>> either due to being on an I spec, possible an externally-described
>>>>> I spec, or on a C spec.
>>>>>       C            MOVE    *blanks       ds1        50
>>>>> Almost certainly wrong columns, but you get what I mean. I'm
>>>>> defining
>>>>> DS1 to have a length of 50 here, not the length of 10 that it
>>>>> looked like it should have. Shenanigans? Yep, but upward-compatible R
>> Us.
>>>>> We have a H-spec/CTL-OPT keyword for that: DLCOPT(*NOCHGDSLEN).
>>>>> With that keyword, the compiler doesn't allow you to change the
>>>>> length of the data structure like that, so it's considered defined
>>>>> as soon as all the subfields are defined.
>>>>> --
>>>>> Barbara
>>>>> --
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