The confusing part is is not the way compound variables work, but the way
value() works. In OOREXX there is syntax for a tail that includes lower case
characters, e.g.,
foo=.stem~new
foo['bbb']=7
--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3
________________________________________
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of
Charles Mills [charl...@mcn.org]
Sent: Monday, February 1, 2021 7:09 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Rexx stem variable question
Thanks all. I am getting it now. I had the wrong mental model of how Rexx
stems work (and I suspect some others may also.)
I pictured it kind of like C or COBOL multi-dimensional arrays. I pictured
Rexx A.B.C.D being essentially analogous to C language A[B,C,D] or COBOL
A(B, C, D) albeit with "associative subscripts."
But it really is more like a one-dimensional array than an n-dimensional
array. A.B.C.D is kind of the same thing as A.ValueOfB_ValueOfC_ValueOfD.
The periods just separate the different variable names, making A.B.C.D
distinct from A.BCD. B.C.D is one "subscript," not three. There is only one
tail, a series of values essentially concatenated with periods, not a
hierarchy of tails.
The fact that it is one-dimensional explains why A.B. has no special
significance.
A. is special; it is "all the possible tails of A" but A.B. is just "A.B
plus a period."
Charles
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On
Behalf Of Seymour J Metz
Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2021 7:06 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Rexx stem variable question
https://secure-web.cisco.com/17vK1vl7MNcdqFRfLM4xX3NJYYC0YstC3etD6WGVSyAF77AQnBVuq860ctxhlVmJJYrBOa6XrDa89OMw7kcKfqVmS96egGx_I4-8f-JrMByPne4h8kcv-XrdB9Bvm7LZ3merYYfaJVIuwRIvz2pkYoQLO4Spc6uLaHvdEhLcqyiF-fqTHfZoCn2Zl-M_EsLWp6uJihGK5JPz36fKyr90sGrkC4ED_Jp9EzLLnq2qHpJQq_j4MMC40BiyRsKk6zZVqLRCZcGRTIZHSXVGMWiNRhwzEcX5uXeUVymMWAevuvQ8kq0DZdg9LaN3yqNj8KTtL6KRvPi_QSFnRKpNqFAFFvSqNs8LSOpPGL5Yea-GQHVr6XwNj4U9yreKFg2FtLdF8mxg14SxlKgHDAB7OScnnxEim-re7EWbHPB6PRZirhiZIVuOLvLhtaSj4YSG-QL8k/https%3A%2F%2Fia801609.us.archive.org%2F14%2Fitems%2FREXXLanguage2ndEdition%2FREXX%2520Langu
age%20-%202nd%20Edition.pdf
"The name begins with a stem (that part of the symbol up to and including
the first period)."
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