Re: using a defined constant to dimension an array

[boldt@xxxxxxxxxx]

Joep wrote:
>I'm still not quite sure what to think of it.  Are RPG identifier rules
>different from system name rules?  As far as I understand it it's
"letters,
>digits, $, #, @ and _; start with a letter, $, # or @" for both.

I believe the system naming rules include some sort of "extended"
naming style (but I don't have a reference handy).

BTW, $, #, and @ really should be avoided in RPG names, since the
glyphs for those characters can look much different when viewed
in different countries.  I know these chars are popular with some
North American programmers, but they can cause some confusion when
porting to other continents.

>I understand the case of wanting a variable for DTAARA (like
EXTFILE/EXTMBR
>in V5R1), so it would have made sense to differ between an identifier and
a
>literal (as in the CALL operation code).  But INCLUDE, IGNORE and RENAME
>only have meaning at compile time, so there is no need for variables
there.
>Do you mean that it should have been INCLUDE('format'), IGNORE('format')
and
>RENAME('ext_format':int_format)?  Then what about file names?  They are
>system names as well, aren't they?

I did say before that the point was subtle, and partly due to the
difficulties in handling external names within the RPG programs
namespace.  (I really don't want to go into details, but it took a
few releases before we got the processing right.  At least, I hope
it's now right!)

File names are names within the RPG programs namespace. That is,
you can't have a variable with the same name as a file.  It just
happens that that internal name also represents an external name.

Confused yet?

Cheers!  Hans

Hans Boldt, ILE RPG Development, IBM Toronto Lab, boldt@ca.ibm.com

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