[WDSCI-L] Re: Prototypes & /copy

[Barbara Morris <bmorris@xxxxxxxxxx>]

August Fassler wrote:
> 
> I've only recently begun to play with service programs and procedures,
> etc...  I have noticed that many sources of information regarding
> prototypes appear to strongly recommend using copy source rather than
> copying the prototype directly into your program.  This raises an
> interesting issue for me.  We have all but said never, ever use copy
> source.  This is due to the fact that you can't scan for its contents
> within a program and that you can't see its contents while programming.
> 

August, whatever annoyance there might be from not having the prototype
in the same source member, it can't be as bad as coding the same
prototype in more than one source member.  That way lies madness.  If
you miss a change in just one source file will be back in the bad old
days of mismatched parameters.  (You still have to recompile all the
modules that use the changed prototype, assuming you change it in an
non-upward-compatible way, but that's not as bad as editing all the
modules.)

As well as the outline view showing the prototype, you can also use code
completion (ctrl-space) within your code to get information about a
prototype.

By the way, I don't think you should put prototypes for local
(non-exported) procedures in /copy files.