HiI used CHANGE-CLASS some time ago to ensure that I could read new data and reshape it. It was a much cleaner - and "built in" - solution than writing ad-hoc code which should eventually be "generalized".I understand people get worked up about things they feel may be in their way of "efficient code".But guys! The world I see from my perch is running on Python and R.
At the risk of sounding obnoxious (I am getting old; I can afford it :) ) there are other trees to bark on in the CL forest: mostly at the outskirts. Not that many at the core.