CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ibm-midrangerpglecode-conversion
TomCusick
TomCusick

Reputation: 11

Have to reconvert a program that was converted to RPGLE from ASSET

Before I was even in this town, my Boss (back then would be programmer) developed a program for tracking Intercompany Movement of products, He developed this in ASSET. Fast forward years, ASSET was no longer the program of choice and it was "CONVERTED" into RPGLE. (IT WAS CONVERTED POORLY!!!)

My Boss has informed me that it is my task to recreate the "Flow Chart" of this program and document what ever I can out of it. (Yes, he has misplaced/lost/hidden/forgot the documentation he had way back when. But in his words that documentation was lacking and probably would not have helped me anyway.)

My issue is looking at this unbelievable mess of a program poorly "converted" from Asset is proving to be a major headache.

Does anyone out there have a suggestion as to how to muddle through this program and come up with a reasonable idea of what it is doing?

From what I understand the Convert from ASSET was poorly conceived and when it converted stuff it made extensive usage of variables.

Honestly I don't know if anyone could even begin to help me... I think I'm writing this just so I can say that I tried to find help even if it is an impossible task.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 90

Answers (1)

jmarkmurphy
jmarkmurphy

Reputation: 11473

Try not to consider where it came from. That is immaterial now. Pretend it was just an RPG program written by someone who has a vastly different style from you. I understand that the source produced by code generators can be difficult to work through, I know of at least one that I would not want to analyze without generated comments, but your advantage will be that the code should be extremely consistent. Look for patterns. Start with simple subroutines, and name them in a sane manner. Look for naming patterns. Once you get through a few simple pieces, you will start to recognize patterns in the source which will help you with the rest.

Upvotes: 1

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