Re: CONST vs. VALUE

On Tue, 27 Mar 2001, Stone, Brad V (TC) wrote:

> What's the difference between using CONST and VALUE on ILE parm lists?  I
> have always used VALUE.  It seems to do the same thing as CONST.

VALUE copies the contents of the variable into a new area of memory, 
allowing you to work with it and change it at will without changing the
variable on the caller's side.    

CONST passes the variable by reference (i.e. it passes a pointer to the
variable) but flags it as "unchangable".   For a string thats 32k long,
const still only passes 16 bytes, whereas value would pass 32,000.

Perhaps a better way to illustrate the difference is by writing
example code:

     D refTest         PR            10I 0
     D   Parm1                       10I 0
     D valueTest       PR            10I 0
     D   Parm1                       10I 0 value
     D constTest       PR            10I 0
     D   Parm1                       10I 0 const

     D X               S             10I 0
     D Y               S             10I 0

     C**  By passing by reference, I'm sending a pointer to X.
     C**    when parm1 is changed, X is also changed since they
     C**    are in the same area of memory.
     C**
     c                   eval      X = 1
     c                   eval      Y = refTest(X)
     C* Now X = 2, Y = 2.

     C**  By passing by value, I'm passing the vaue of X.
     C**    when parm1 is changed, X is not affected, it's in
     C**    a different area of memory.  The returned value
     C**    is still incremented, since the value was incremented.
     C**
     c                   eval      X = 1
     c                   eval      Y = valueTest(X)
     C* Now X = 1, Y = 2.

     C**  By passing by const, I'm passing a pointer to X.
     C**    Since that pointer is flagged as "const", I can't
     C**    change the data in that area of memory.
     C**    Therefore, the constTest() proc won't work at all.
     C**    (in fact, it won't even compile)
     C**
     c                   eval      X = 1
     c                   eval      Y = constTest(X)

     c                   eval      *inlr = *on

     P refTest         B
     D refTest         PI            10I 0
     D   Parm1                       10I 0
     c                   eval      parm1 = parm1 + 1
     c                   return    parm1
     P                 E


     P valueTest       B
     D valueTest       PI            10I 0
     D   Parm1                       10I 0 value
     c                   eval      parm1 = parm1 + 1
     c                   return    parm1
     P                 E


      **   Note: This won't even compile.  You cannot change the
      **    contents of parm1, since it's passed as const.
     P constTest       B
     D constTest       PI            10I 0
     D   Parm1                       10I 0 const
     c                   eval      parm1 = parm1 + 1
     c                   return    parm1
     P                 E


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