The default expression is what's known as a "constant expression". The expression must be either a single string or constant symbol (e.g., a number), or an expression contained in parentheses. This is a construct used in other places (for example, the forward and raise instructions). This is an expression syntax that allows additional subkeyword options to be added without compatibility breakage, since the parsing of the expression has a clearly defined beginning and end. That is, it is either a single token, or it is an expression in parens. An expression like -1 is a prefix operator followed by a number....two tokens (an operator + the number). This needs to be specified as either (-1) or "-1", which is a literal token that doesn't use the prefix operator.
The ::CONSTANT directive had a similar problem. I relaxed the rules somewhat for that, allowing "+" or "-" followed by a valid numeric symbol to be used, but I almost regret doing this. This is going to be extremely difficult to describe what is valid for the directive because of the special exception. The rules could be relaxed to allow this in the constant expression case, but I'm very reluctant to do so. Rick On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 12:31 PM, Mark Miesfeld <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I see that the following code generates an error: > > ::method someMethod > use strict arg num = 32, otherNum = -1 > ... > > Incorrect expression detected at "-" > > It is easy enough to fix, otherNum = (-1) > > I was just surprised. Intuitively, it seems it should work without > the parens. Is this intentional? Something too hard to change in the > parser? > > -- > Mark Miesfeld > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge > Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes > Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world > http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ > _______________________________________________ > Oorexx-devel mailing list > Oorexx-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/oorexx-devel > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _______________________________________________ Oorexx-devel mailing list Oorexx-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/oorexx-devel
