Constant keyword added to RPG definitions

As part of the latest Technology Refreshes, IBM i 7.5 TR4 and 7.4 TR10, comes an addition to the variable and data structure definitions. It is now possible to use the constant keyword as part of those definitions to protect them from being changed.

Why would I want to do that?

There are times I want to use a variable, rather than a constant. It might be to contain a date. I would not want this to be changed, either on purpose or by accident.

Below is an example:

01 **free 02 dcl-s StartDate date inz(*sys) const ; 03 dsply StartDate ; 04 StartDate = d'2024-07-04' ;

July's presentations

This moth I have two events I will be talking at.

I will be the speaker of the July meeting of the Central Texas IBM i User Group, CTXiUG. This meeting is on Tuesday July 9 at 6:30 PM (CT. I will be talking about various ways I have used SQL on IBM i to keep partitions clean of old objects, etc.

You can register at the CTXiUG website here.

Later this month I will be attending and presenting at one of my favorite conference's, OCEAN user group's TechCon24. The conference is a four-day affair. The first day, Wednesday July 24, is online. I am presenting in person on the second and third days, Thursday July 24 and Friday July 25. On Saturday, July 27, is their day of workshops.

You can learn more about the best user group conference in the western USA at their TechCon24 website here. You can register for the event from the same page.

I hope to see you there. And if you are attending and you see me, please introduce yourself and say "Hi".

If you are a member of an IBM i Local User Group, LUG, and you would like me to talk to your group, use the contact form to reach me. We can then arrange a date and subject.

If you are a member of a LUG that is not listed on my LUG page, please contact me and send me your group's details.