On Sat, 20 Apr 2024 11:08:03 -0400, Bob Bridges wrote: >It was while I was coding in REXX that I tried abutting a variable named 'x' >with another string, and couldn't figure out why the program behaved as it >did. Eventually figured out I had inadvertently created a hex constant. >Maybe as an overreaction, I have never since used one-character variable >names, always two or more. (What do I use for loop counters?, you ask. I use >'j' plus another letter; 'jr' for records, for example, 'jd' for days >whatever. More obvious would have been 'i', but there are too many two-letter >reserved words even in REXX that start with 'i'.) > I like to use longer names with mnemonic value as control variables and, if the body of the loop is more than a couple lines, cite the control variable at the END so the interpreter verifies nesting.
Rexx is chaotic in context sensitivity of reserved words and in symbols' being evaluated almost everywhere with exceptions for e.g. ADDRESS. Variable precision arithmetic is a boon. But there is no convenient library of elementary functions, probably the reason for the lack of elementary functions in Rexx. -- gil ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
