Re: Are subroutines codependent?

On Mon, Jul 7, 2014 at 1:18 PM, Buck Calabro <kc2hiz@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 7/7/2014 11:59 AM, Vicki Wilson wrote:

Is a subprocedure dependent in a healthy way?

I'm looking for humorous ways to talk about using subprocedures
rather than subroutines.

For my money, if an 'either-or' situation exists, it is not between
subroutines and subprocedures, but between global variables and local.

Very good point.

I've made the mistake of convincing programmers who are unfamiliar with
locally scoped variables to use subprocedures and... well, it was a big
mistake. Subprocedures that use global variables are pretty much as
painful to maintain as subprocedures that use global variables.

I take it you meant "subroutines" at the end. In any case, you've
shown that subprocedures *can* be just as "codependent" as
subroutines.

In fact, subroutines can be reasonably independent and healthy, given
well thought out conventions and programmer diligence (to make
variables "as local as possible"). No, it's not as pretty nor
anywhere near as convenient as using subprocedures "the right way";
but I've actually seen codebases built on RPG/400 (before RPG IV
existed) which employed these techniques.

John