All,
Current work creates opportunities for me to use antique FP features dating from days when memory was limited and processors slow, so efficiency mattered a lot. Often these old-timers perform better than more recognizable/mainstream ways of doing things. My earlier COPY TO ARRAY example is a good one.
CALCULATE is another good example. CALCULATE AVG(field1),SUM(field2),MAX(field3) to myvar1,myvar2,myvar3 is quicker than SQL or other mainstream ways of performing the same calculations.
For VFPA, Chen has done some work on Calculate that will be of interest if you're into AI or encryption with their need for bit manipulation in tight loops, where VFP's 4GL baggage can make things a bit slow. Stay tuned!
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
