RE: Subroutines vs Subprocedures was RE: Indicators

2) You miss what local variable is all about.
3) If I copy them into a subproc, my sub-proc is then using global variables.  
According to your golden rule, that is a no no.  To stick to the rule, I'll 
have to, as you suggested, make modification to it, which for me , is a waste 
of my time and QA's time.  Those codes have been written and tested and there 
is no reason for me to create it as sub-routine and later on have to change it 
to sub-proc at all. 

Once again, I don't think I'll be able to sub-proc much at all if I have to 
stand by your sub-proc golden rules (where are those strick rules come from 
anywhere?).  I'm not saying that they are bad, but live a little.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Joe Lee
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2004 5:42 PM
To: rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Subroutines vs Subprocedures was RE: Indicators


2) Since these subroutines are only there to allow you to break up your
code into more manageable sections. There is no difference between using
them and having the code within the mainline of the program, other than
to make it easier to read.

3) In this case you would either need to copy the subroutine into the
subproc, or see if you can modify the subroutine so that it can be made
into a subproc without creating problems such as accessing global
variables from within a subprocedure. If the subroutine for example
cleared the variables for a file, it would probably make sense to change
it into a subproc even though the field variables are global, since file
field variables are about the only global variables that should be used
in a subproc, even then you should probably limit their use to a single
input and output and refrain from using them as work variables. If on
the other hand the subroutine really needed to be used with in the
subproc, you might need to look at the subproc and see if it should
really be a subproc, or if maybe it should be a subroutine.

Let me try to explain it this way. A subprocedure is a section of code
that can, with extremely minor modifications, be it's own program. It
doesn't have to be a very capable program, but it should be self
contained. A subroutine is part of a program that cannot stand on its
own and is only separated for organizational purposes.