REPORT PROGRAM GENERATOR

Domain	Definition
Computing	Report Program Generator (RPG) A system produced by IBM in 1965 for easy production of sophisticated large system reports. Versions: RPG II, RPG III, RPG/400 for the IBM AS/400. MS-DOS versions by California Software and Lattice. UNIX version by Unibol. Cross-platform version by J & C Migrations runs on MS-DOS, Windows, AIX, HP-UX, and OS/390. See also CL, OCL. [Features?] (1998-12-10). Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specialty Definition: Report program generator

Report Program Generator, commonly known as RPG, is one of the few languages created for punch card machines that is still in use today (thankfully using a line editor and not the punch cards!). It was developed by IBM for their range of mainframe systems, especially the S/390 - as RPG II.

RPG II was ported to the System 36, while an improved version of the language, RPG III, was created for the System 38 and its successor the AS/400 (a mid-range machine, now called the iSeries) and became RPG/400 with a much cleaner syntax, and better file/database reading capabilities. This language was the mainstay of development on the AS/400, and its editor was a simple line editor with prompt templates for each specification (type of instruction).

An RPG program would start off with a File Specification, listing all files being read, created, written or queried, followed by an Input Specification listing all the variables in use along with any Data Structures and one dimensional arrays. The Calculation Specification would follow which contained the actual meat of the code, and finally any inprogram Output Specifications - like a summary report.

RPG III eventually evolved into RPG IV which reduced the limiting punch-card type layout and allowed a free-format text and expressions within its Extended Calculation Specification.

RPG on the AS/400 thrived on the object-orientated look of the underlying operating system (OS/400) to an extent that everything was a file (very similar to the Unix philosophy), so the terminal screen could be updated (with sub windows) by writing to a file (of type *DISPLAY).

Frequency of Internet Keywords: REPORT PROGRAM GENERATOR

Modern Translation: REPORT PROGRAM GENERATOR

Language		Translations for "REPORT PROGRAM GENERATOR"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Danish		RPG (list program generator), rapportprogramgenerator (list program generator). (various references)

Dutch		lijstprogrammagenerator (list program generator), afdrukprogrammagenerator (list program generator). (various references)

French		GAP, générateur de programme d'édition, générateur automatique de programmes, éditeur. (various references)

German		Reportprogrammgenerator (list program generator), LPG (list program generator), Listenprogrammgenerator (list program generator). (various references)

Greek		γεννήτρια προγραμμάτων αναφορών (list program generator). (various references)

Italian		linguaggio RPG (list program generator), generatore di prospetti (list program generator), generatore di programma di stampa (list program generator). (various references)

Pig Latin		eportray ogrampray eneratorgay

Portuguese		programa gerador de relatórios (list program generator). (various references)

Spanish		lenguaje de programas de edición (list program generator), generador de programas de edición (list program generator). (various references)

Swedish		rapportgenerator (list program generator). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.