Removing leading zeroes from a non zero character variable

I have a character variable which accepts numeric data. If this data is non-zero, we will have to take out any leading zeroes and then pass the resulting data to an SQL statement for further processing. This is how I acheived it using free form RPG.

InUpc is the character variable.

If %Trim(InUpc) <> *Zeros; // if data is non-zero
DoW %SubSt(%Trim(InUpc):1:1) = '0'; // take out first digit if it is zero
InUpc = %SubSt(%Trim(InUpc):2);
EndDo;
EndIf;

Recursion example - RPG, i5

Here is an example of recursion using a procedure in RPG:


P CrtDataQ B Export

D CrtDataQ Pi

D DtaQNam 10A Const
D KeyLen 10i 0 Const
D DtaQLen 10i 0 Const Options(*NoPass)
D LibName 10A Const Options(*NoPass)
D CmdStr S 300A Inz Varying
D Library S 10A Inz('QTEMP')
D DtaQLn S 10i 0 Inz(256)

/Free
// set default values for DtaQLen and LibName...
Select;
When %Parms() = 3;
DtaQLn = DtaQLen;
When %Parms() = 4;
DtaQLn = DtaQLen;
Library = LibName;
EndSl;
CmdStr = 'CRTDTAQ DTAQ(' + %Trim(Library) + '/' + %Trim(DtaQNam) + ') MAXLEN(' + %Trim(%Char(DtaQLn)) + ') SEQ (*KEYED) KEYLEN(' + %Trim(%Char(KeyLen)) + ')';

// Monitor for the possiblity of Data queue already present
// If data queue is already present, delete it and then create.
Monitor;
ExcClCmd(CmdStr:%Len(CmdStr));
On-Error;
DltDataQ(DtaQNam);
CrtDataQ(DtaQNam:KeyLen:DtaQLn:Library); // recursion example
EndMon;

/End-Free

P CrtDataQ E

Convert date into numeric format - RPG free

StrDt is a date field into which a date is being updated. PlHBeg is a julian date in the form yyyyddd.

The code block - %SubSt(%Char(PlHBeg - 1900000):2) gets us the Julian date that is recognized by i5.

StrDt = %Date(%SubSt(%Char(PlHBeg - 1900000):2):*Jul0);

PxHBeg is an 8 digit numeric field into which we are trying to feed a date in Iso (yyyymmdd) format. We use the built in function SubDt to extract each portion of the date and with some basic calculations, we have the date converted to numeric form.

PxHBeg = %SubDt(StrDt:*Y) * 10000 + %SubDt(StrDt:*M) * 100
+ %SubDt(StrDt:*D);

Where change seems to be the only constant

A first hand account

For the first time ever, I had to visit India under rather tragic and gloomy conditions, so I had neither the inclination nor the time to indulge in the usual fun activities. But observe I did, and what a dramatic change it has been since my last visit two years back! during my last visit, I saw an attitude shift in general with people not backing off from spending and patiently lining up in front of ATM machines waiting for their chance to withdraw (spend?) some of their hard earned money. Gone were the days of trying to save for a rainy day! Just when I thought that I have seen it all, this time around, it looked like change was the only real constant. Though change was all-pervasive, it was all the more visible in the suburbia and the smaller two tier centers.

The first surprise was Bombay (Mumbai) airport. They really turned it around. What was a murky, dirty, cramped up place on my last encounter has now turned into a spacious, spick and span, well lighted airport on par with the best that India has to offer. The new immigration counters are more spacious with minimal waiting times. It took us more time waiting at the expanded and more roomy baggage claim area than in immigration. Though customs also was more streamlined, this is one area where the officers will have to be more courteous. I couldn’t help but observe that there was also a baggage re-check area for domestic connections. It is amazing what a little bit of private enterprise can do.

The once ubiquitous Ambassador seems to have all but been relegated to the history books nowadays. It looks like that tag now belongs to the Marutis and the Tatas. And it looks like the Tatas might well get hold of that tag ultimately with their Indicas and their Indigos. The once popular Sumo had already yielded to the Qualis but after Toyota decided to replace the Qualis with the Innova, it looks like the Innova is well on the way to take over that segment. You still do see the odd Camry, Accord or Civic, but they are few and far between. People perceive them to be overpriced, as they know that they are about half the cost here in the US.

And then, there is fast food. While the McDonalds, Pizza huts, Dominos and Subways are making inroads everywhere, Indian fast food has not lost its appeal. In south India, the idlis, vadas, dosas, indo-chinese and thali still hold sway, though people don’t mind venturing into a subway or a pizza hut now and then. I couldn’t help but notice that while people fret over the price of onions touching 16 rupees a kilo, they don’t care for the price when they order a foot long sub for 200 bucks or a plate of (five) fried jumbo shrimp (served on the seashore) for 300 bucks. I suppose it is the experience of dining on the sand with the waves crashing nearby that people are willing to pay for!

Retail is exploding like never before with national chains like Reliance, Subhiksha and Spencers competing with the more regional chains like Trinethra or TruMart for the same customers. Finally, more power to the customers, though at the cost of displacing a few smaller hitherto cramped stores. With Walmart and Bharti teaming up, the retail landscape can only get spicier.

It looks like real estate is also going hand in hand with the retail boom. In some places, land that used to go for 20,000 a square yard two years ago is now going for 50,000 a square yard. The immediate suburbs of Vizag, for example, are going for about 2 crores an acre (provided you can find a chunk of land that size). With the stretch of the golden quadrilateral that passes through Vizag completed, distances are no longer an issue and people are willing to go as far as 40 to 50 Kms in search of land. The result? 30 kms from Vizag, land costs near the highway range from 15 to 60 lakhs per acre depending on how far the land is from the highway. Farmers in the suburbs are benefiting from this uptick in prices as more and more of them are not being able to refuse the offers being doled out for their lands.

Almost everybody in the average family now has a cell phone. Cell phones have become the preferred choice and landlines are very rarely used. So much so that, people are even having their news delivered to their mobiles and are even starting to pay bills using SMS. Some are not backing off from buying the more expensive models. I could not believe my eyes when I saw huge lines in front of an ATM in Guntakal at 7pm. What was more surprising was that the line didn’t seem to dissipate even at 9pm!

Be it a low profile center like Guntakal or the high profile centers like Pune or Hyderabad, change is certainly in the air. No matter where I have been to in India, there is this positive outlook that permeates all sections giving way to a perception that India’s time has finally arrived. Granted that IT is still the driving force, but other sectors like pharma, tourism, biotech and entertainment are making inroads into this once exclusive club of growth drivers. It sure looks like India is all set to embark upon one more golden period.

And finally, the one bright spot on the way back to the US on Air India was that we were on time and each and every landing (Delhi, Heathrow and JFK) was perfect, without any bumps, jerks or jolts. Should say that those were among the best landings I have ever experienced.

Calculating Time difference using Free form RPG

This is how I calculate the difference between two times in minutes...

TimeDiff = %Int(%Diff(%Time(CurTime:*Hms):%Time(OrdTime:*Hms):*mn));

where Curtime and OrdTime are numeric and *mn denotes that we need the difference in minutes to be put in the TimeDiff field.

The spirit of Deepavali, the spirt of India

Deepavali or Diwali, no matter how we say it, means the same to everybody who celebrates the triumph of good over evil, of knowledge over ignorance and of light over darkness.

Diwali has historically been associated with the victorious return of Rama from exile after vanquishing the evil Ravana in battle. Since then, it has also been associated with the victory of good over evil whenever it had happened over the centuries. Diwali is also the occasion when the goddess of wealth Lakshmi is worshipped as the harbinger of health and prosperity.

It also ushers in the New Year as well as the financial year in many Indian states. Festivites rule the roost on Diwali when people get up early, dress up in new clothes and worship. Home-made delicacies are prepared and exchanged with neighbors and friends. Friends, neighbors and relatives treat each other with offerings of home-made sweets as a token of mutual trust, respect and goodwill.

For most people, Diwali is synonymous with fireworks that are set off that evening to light up the dark skies. Diwali almost always falls on new moon day during October-November. Diwali is also known as the Festival of Lights.

All-in-all, like in most Indian festivals, Diwali brings with it bonhomie all around, pomp and gaiety, and the colors and smiles that light up the whole day followed up with the fireworks that light up the night and beyond.

My experience with SPIC-MACAY

Over fifteen years ago, while I was a student, I had the good fortune to work for a unique voluntary organization called SPIC-MACAY. While there were the customary ups and downs that we had to deal with, it turned out to be a worthwhile experience at the end of it all. SPIC-MACAY stands for the “Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth”. While I agree that it is a mouthful of a name, there cannot be a more precise name to it, as the name is the exact mission of this little known organization. I call it “little-known” because many people wouldn’t have heard of it until and unless you had an interest in Indian classical music and dance forms while you were in school or college and if you were fortunate enough to have been a student in one of those locations where SPIC-MACAY is active. SPIC-MACAY was founded by… hold your breath for this one… none other than IIT-ians and, for the most part, is based out of IIT Delhi. And most of its active members at various chapters (all over India and abroad) hail from engineering and medical colleges. As one would expect, the chapters themselves are active at almost all the professional colleges/universities of India, and through their activities, bring in the surrounding educational entities into their fold.

One might question the reasoning behind the willingness of students from professional fields to dedicate their valuable time to the pursuit of the promotion of our art forms, that too when they know up front that there are not many takers in today’s day and age. Well, the reasons are truly manifold and I shall try to spell out some of them by drawing on personal experience. We people in professional fields like to take up a challenge when we see it, and if it is for a good cause, all the more better! In my case, barring the occasional ‘Sankarabharanam’ on the silver screen, I could not boast of any great exposure to the Indian art forms. My thinking at that stage was: why not give it a shot and see if I can learn something about our great art forms from the maestros themselves? If we would like to learn from our experiences and what better place to learn than a voluntary organization like SPIC-MACAY, where, on a daily basis, we will have to learn to deal with each other’s egos, we will have to learn to deal with the government of the day, interact with students and heads of institutions trying to convince them of the need to expose their students to Indian cultural forms, interact with the champions of society, organize free events (featuring the greats of our land) for students, and last but not the least making sure that the artists have nothing to complain about while they are under our care. All this, while expecting nothing in return but the hope that our efforts of exposing Indian music and dance to children will one day create an interest in today’s children for these ancient, rich art forms. Of course, there is the added pleasure of being able to interact with some of the great artists of our times. At the end of this all, we would have learnt something about organizational and communication skills. The interaction with the likes of great stalwarts like Ustad Bismillah Khan and Pandit CR Vyas is a humbling experience to say the least. One can never fathom how down to earth these individuals are and how they can come down to our small minds just to interact with us!

My first foray into SPIC-MACAY was when we hosted Sudharani Raghupati (Bharatanatyam) in Vizag. It was at this one (primary/middle for those in the west) school that we had an evening program scheduled for where the target audience was in the age group of maybe 5 to 15, with most of them having negligible previous exposure to classical dance. We were wondering how Sudharani would be able to get at least a few them interested in Bharatanatyam. We didn’t have to wait long as when Sudharani appeared on the modest “stage” (if we may call it that), there was nothing but silence. To communicate, Sudharani went down to the child’s level of understanding and how! She started off with the customary salutation and before long, she started off by explaining the rationale behind how some of the basic human expressions like happiness, anger, jealousy, lust, confusion, irritation, shyness, desperation etc. are depicted in Bharatanatyam. She not only performed and explained them one by one, but she also drew them up for the whole group to see. She basically made it an interactive experience, so much so that the children were thrilled with the performance. What turned out to be a confused group at the beginning of the performance became an enthralled and enlightened group within an hour. There was no stopping the children after it was over. Before the performance, they were told that she was a great dancer, but after the performance, they recognized her as one. They had lots of questions to ask of her. They dished out anything they could find, just to get an autograph of a great dancer and a great instructor. Sudharani herself was very exhausted after the con cert, but with a smile on her face, she acknowledged that she had had a great time. That was my first ever up-close encounter with an Indian art form and I was certainly hooked onto the mission of SPIC-MACAY from that day on.

I still remember the evening when we walked the 2 Km odd stretch from the university to the beach along with Pandit CR Vyas and his group. In spite of his age, he insisted that he would walk to the beach and took to the road with a few of us for company. The walk turned out to be great, as we reached the beach just before sunset. If you ever walked at least a kilometer towards Vizag beach, you would realize that as you walk towards it, you almost always end up walking downhill as you approach the shore. This presents you with a changing view of the sea (in daytime or on a moonlit night) as you descend towards it. Add to this the colors of the setting sun interacting with those of the sea and you are in for a visual treat! The breeze also changes angles on you as you approach the shore. Panditji was so overwhelmed with the view that he couldn’t help but mention it to us. Once we took up position on the sea wall that runs along the beach road, Panditji just sat down in silence for a few moments as if to take in the calming effect of the elements. It looked like he was at peace with himself. After a while, he resorted to small chitchat with the rest of us and then, after the night took over and as the moonlight played with the waves, Panditji broke into song out of the blue! It was a moment that I will cherish forever, for at that time, all banter stopped and everybody was, well, just listening to him. At that moment, I understood his deep passion for the music he sings and that he enjoyed every bit of what he was doing. After a few more minutes by the beach, we started trekking back to Panditji’s quarters for the night. Panditji insisted that he walk back in spite of it being an uphill task (for all of us) now.

My experience with SPIC-MACAY was a deeply educational one too. This is where I made new friends from across India who shared more or less the same goals and expectations that I had, folks who had the fire within them to do something about fostering our culture among fellow students as well as to the next generations. Our weekly chapter meetings were times when we interacted with locally re-known personalities and found out more about the passion and energy that drives such great souls. Whatever we did, the objective was always to learn something in the process, from each other, from famous people, from the great artists, from the younger generation, from peers, from the older ones. If not anything else, this experience has strengthened my desire for continuous learning. As far as Music and Dance is concerned, this has been my best exposure to one of the finest art forms that the world can boast of today.

India's railway budget 2006

This year's railway budget seems to be politically driven once again keeping in mind the five states that go to the polls this year. The only exception to this rule is the minister's home state of Bihar which got as many as fourteen of the 55 new trains announced for this fiscal!

Is he expressing his thanks to the biharis for shunting him out of power in the state? Does Bihar really require that much capacity at this time? Or are so many trains required to keep the thieves and bandits in his home-state happy?

And what is with the naming of the proposed eastern and western freight corridors that are mainly relegated to the northern sectors? Is the disconnect between the names and the actual proposed locations for these projects deliberate? I would expect any eastern corridor to run through the eastern half of the country, not across the northern half!! Same argument goes for the Western corridor.

The "Western" corridor is proposed to run from Bombay to the UP heartland and the Eastern corridor is proposed to run from Bihar to Punjab. Why did the "Eastern" corridor have to stop in Bihar? Should it not run into West Bengal at the least and maybe onward into Assam and the other north eastern states thorugh feedrer lines? Don't they desreve to do freight? And what about the rest of the country? Why these additional lines in an area that already has enough lines? If at all there are areas that need additional lines those lie right in the center of India and in the north east states. A line connecting the western and eastern coasts of India may be more beneficial.

What about the south states? The only southern state that got anything significant is Tamil Nadu. Maybe they have an election coming up...

End of rant!!

De-interlacing and digital display units.

More and more people are taking a liking to digital TVs and digital display units. Needless to say, there are several factors that will need to be considered while shopping for the 'right' unit.

One of these factors is the de-interlacer that converts analog video signals to digital signals before the display unit can 'publish' them for our eyes. As we will be stuck with having to watch non-digital video for quite some time, we will have to remmeber that the digital set will have to be able to handle analog signals almost as well as it can handle digital feeds. This is where a good de-interlacer comes into the picture. One of the best de-interlacers in the market today happens to be DCDi by Faroudja which does a great job of converting analog feeds to digital feeds. I see this at work almost every day.

Other de-interlacers are available too, but it is always a good idea to check out how a display unit handles analog feeds before you decide to purchase the unit. Most shops will never feed the digital display units in the showroom with non-digital video (like regular, non-HD, cable/satellite video). So, be sure to ask for a demo so that you can compare both digital/regular video at work before deciding on that digital purchase.