I'd like to fix the taxonomy of ooRexx symbols. Currently, 1.13 says "The meaning of a symbol in Rexx varies according to its context. As a term in an expression, a symbol belongs to one of the following groups: (1) constant symbols, (2) simple symbols, (3) compound symbols, (4) environment symbols, and (5) stems. Constant symbols cannot be assigned new values" (parenthesized numbers are mine). This section is using what I consider to be the right taxonomy.
1.13.2 "Constant Symbols", however, says "A constant symbol starts with a digit (0-9) or a period", then adds, in the next paragraph, "You cannot change the value of a constant symbol. It is simply the string consisting of the characters of the symbol (that is, with any lowercase alphabetic characters translated to uppercase)". But then, after some examples, it adds "Constant symbols, where the first character is a period, which have at least one other character, and which are not a valid Rexx number, are environment symbols and may have a value other than the symbol name". I propose to rephrase 1.13.2 as follows: A *constant symbol* *starts with a number, consists of a single period, or is a valid Rexx number*. You cannot change the value of a constant symbol. It is simply the string consisting of the characters of the symbol (that is, with any lowercase alphabetic characters, *if any*, translated to uppercase. I would also suppress the last paragraph starting with "Constant symbols, where the first character is a period..." If nobody objects, I will implement these changes (I'm not a native English speaker, so that style corrections are always welcome). In a second pass, I'll review all the places in rexxref referencing "constant symbols" to see if the reference should be changed to also include environment symbols. See also https://sourceforge.net/p/oorexx/documentation/337/ Josep Maria
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