I don’t care if nobody else thinks so, I still say ILE is a good idea. It makes a lot of sense to build software from components, insofar as it is practical to do so.

A lot of programmers don’t see it my way. When presented with a problem to solve, they insist upon solving it themselves. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that somebody else may have already solved it. I wonder how many programmers have solved the problem of making a computer calculate federal income tax? Or, to use the language of bean counters, how many dollars have been spent programming computers to calculate federal income tax, and how could that money have been spent instead?

Fortunately, those days are numbered. Golden State Software Systems, Inc. (GSSSI) has developed a package of RPG IV subprocedures that can be called from ILE programs written in RPG, COBOL, and C. On second thought, “has developed” is not an appropriate way to say that, because it sounds as if they’re finished. Why, they’re just getting started. GSSSI calls its package “Function Junction.” Catchy, isn’t it? I think so.

A Class Act

Function Junction is divided into classes of related functions. For example, the string- handling class includes functions to justify, parse, and translate character data, among other things. Other classes are dates, numbers, statistics, finance, medical, navigation, and conversions of units of measurement. See Figure 1 for a list of the functions that were available at press time. For a current list, see the Function Junction Web page at www.gsssi.com/home.html. Don’t be surprised if the list has grown. GSSSI continues to enhance Function Junction. It has a long list of ideas, and customers have given it even more ideas, so it’ll be busy for a while.

Function Junction is like an encyclopedia in a several ways. First, few people read every entry in an encyclopedia. When you license Function Junction, you get it all. Never mind that you’ll never have to calculate the secant of an angle in radians.

Second, an article in an encyclopedia typically has more information about a subject than a person is looking for. You’ll find that the routines in Function Junction are capable of handling more than your demands. For instance, some of the routines can handle distances in various units of measure, including furlongs. You may only need miles or kilometers.

Third, few people could predict what articles will be read in an encyclopedia. It’s nice that an encyclopedia has all the information you need, even though you didn’t know in advance you’d need it. So it’s not unthinkable that Function Junction could have a routine that you could someday use yet have not have foreseen a need for.

Easy to Use

Function Junction is easy to use. Suppose you need to convert a string of hexadecimal digits into characters? You will need to remember three things.

1. Use the /COPY directive to include the necessary function prototypes:

D/COPY INCLUDE,STR

2. Use the function typically found in an EVAL, a DOx, or an IF statement:

C EVAL CharString = Str_Chr(HexString)

In this case, if HexString has the six-byte value C1D2F8, the Str_Chr function will store a result of AK8 in CharString.

3. Specify the appropriate service program in the CRTPGM command:

CRTPGM PGM(xxx) +

MODULE(xxx) +

BNDSRVPGM(STR) +

ACTGRP(*NEW)

In this example, the string conversion functions are in service program STR. It couldn’t be any easier.

Never Out-of-date

Function Junction is licensed on a subscription basis. You pay an initial fee for a license, then an annual fee for two updates a year, which are currently sent out in May and November. If GSSSI incorporates a function that you have suggested, you will receive a copy of that function as soon as it’s available.

When I first began programming computers, every little shop had its own programmers, who wrote everything from scratch. Those days are gone. The future is in reusable code, not the reinvention of the wheel, mainly because using someone else’s packaged code is a lot less expensive than writing custom software. This is what ILE and Function Junction are all about.

Function Junction Price: Available upon request Golden State Software Systems, Inc. 4405 Manchester Ave., Suite 104 Encinitas, CA 92024-4940 Tel: 760-943-9993 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Web: www.gsssi.com/fjentry.html

STRING CLASS

• Translate ASCII to EBCDIC
• Format name and address
• Build or maintain a delimited string
• Convert hexadecimal representation to character
• Case insensitive string compare
• Manipulate upper and lower case
• Translate EBCDIC to ASCII
• Expand a string
• Find and replace characters
• Convert character to hexadecimal representation
• Justify a string
• Parse a string into fixed length substrings
• Parse a delimited string
• Right justify with zero fill

DATE CLASS

• Calculate age
• Calculate full age
• Date validity check
• Calculate day of the week
• Calculate day number of the week
• Convert date to iso
• Format date in iso 8601 week notation
• Convert lilian date to iso date
• Calculate lilian date
• Convert iso 8601 week notation to iso date
• Format date in words

NUMBERS CLASS

• Converts number bases
• Prime factors
• Factorial
• Fibonacci sequence
• Greatest common factor
• Least common multiple
• Next prime number
• Random number generator
• Roman numerals
• Sum of the digits
• Sum of the integers
• Converts numbers to words

STATISTICS CLASS

• Count values
• Geometric mean
• Harmonic mean
• Kurtosis
• Nth largest value
• Maximum value
• Mode
• Median
• Minimum value
• Arithmetic mean

• Normalize a value
• Percentile
• Percent rank
• Ascending rank
• Descending rank
• Standard deviation
• Sample standard deviation
• Distribution skew
• Sum of the values
• Sum of the squares of the values
• Sum of the sum of the squares of two sets
• Sum of the differences of the squares of two sets
• Sum of the sums squared of two sets
• Sum of the differences squared of two sets
• Sum of the products of two sets
• Sum of the products squared of two sets
• Nth smallest value
• Sum of the negative values
• Sum of the positive values
• Trimmed mean
• Variance
• Sample variance
• Weighted mean

CONVERSION CLASS

• Convert astronomical distances
• Convert angles
• Convert areas
• Convert densities
• Convert linear distances
• Convert forces
• Convert forces advanced
• Convert kitchen measures
• Convert pressures
• Convert power
• Convert speeds or velocities
• Convert time
• Convert temperatures
• Convert torques
• Convert typography units
• Convert volumes
• Convert weight or mass
• Convert work/energy

TRIGONOMETRIC CLASS

• Arc cosine of an angle
• Hyperbolic arc cosine of an angle
• Arc cotangent of an angle
• Hyperbolic arc cotangent of an angle
• Arc cosecant of an angle
• Hyperbolic arc cosecant of an angle
• Arc secant of an angle
• Hyperbolic arc secant of an angle
• Arc sine of an angle

• Hyperbolic arc sine of an angle
• Arc tangent of an angle
• Hyperbolic arc tangent of an angle
• Cosine of an angle
• Hyperbolic cosine of an angle
• Cotangent of an angle
• Hyperbolic cotangent of an angle
• Cosecant of an angle
• Hyperbolic cosecant of an angle
• Secant of an angle
• Hyperbolic secant of an angle
• Sine of an angle
• Hyperbolic sine of an angle
• Tangent of an angle
• Hyperbolic tangent of an angle

FINANCE CLASS

• Average collection period
• Regular annuity
• Annuity due
• Compound interest calculations
• Current ratio
• Debt ratio
• Economic order quantity
• Inventory turnover ratio
• Net profit margin
• Price earnings ratio
• Payout ratio
• Quick ratio (aka acid test)
• Return on assets
• Return on equity
• Receivable turnover
• Simple interest calculations

MEDICAL CLASS

• Calculates body mass index
• Calculates body surface area
• Calculates ideal body weight
• Calculates lean body weight
• Calculates total body water

NAVIGATION CLASS

• Great circle distance (shortest distance)
• Great circle route initial true course Figure 1: Function Junction had a long list of subprocedures at press time

Ted Holt is IT manager of Manufacturing Systems Development for Day-Brite Capri Omega, a manufacturer of lighting fixtures in Tupelo, Mississippi. He has worked in the information processing industry since 1981 and is the author or co-author of seven books. 

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