I use the extra spacing trick a lot too.
(fyi I work for intersystems) Cache checks the validity of literal format and
conversion codes at compile time. That catches a lot of typos. Cache also
displays an error message at runtime for bad variable codes. It doesn't log bad
codes though. D3 seems to offer a lot of logging. So I'm surprised along with
Tony that they don't log the invalid codes.
Cache also has a flag that explicitly turns off the VAR"anything" format, but I
think too many people like the syntax to stop using it.
Out of curiosity, how many people avoid VAR"anything" ? I can imagine someone
including that in their rules of style, along with no gotos.
And does anyone use the {} i-type syntax in unidata? It looks elegant.
On Jun 8, 2012, at 10:20 AM, Rutherford, Marc wrote:
> Ditto, I have found using liberal white space has saved me a lot of trouble
> over the years.
>
> Plus now that my eyes are 'of a certain age' I appreciate even more the habit
> of an easy-read coding style.
>
> Marc Rutherford
> Principal Programmer Analyst
> Advanced Bionics LLC
> 661) 362 1754
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: u2-users-boun...@listserver.u2ug.org
> [mailto:u2-users-boun...@listserver.u2ug.org] On Behalf Of Wols Lists
> Sent: Friday, June 08, 2012 4:20 AM
> To: u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org
> Subject: Re: [U2] Why did this compile??
>
> On 07/06/12 21:24, Tony Gravagno wrote:
>> When I was working at Pick Systems I found that anything can be passed
>> into format masks from BASIC, OCONV, or an F-correlative. If it
>> doesn't blow up some code deep down in the parser then it's just
>> ignored. I think the theory is that if someone knows enough to get
>> down that far into the bowels of the system then they'll be able to
>> diagnose errors resulting from faulty codes. It's sort of like not
>> putting a "Be careful of falling trees" sign in a forest where
>> lumberjacks work.
>>
>> The compiler doesn't know that "~" is an invalid mask, since that's a
>> runtime feature. So VAR"anything" will compile, which is unfortunate
>> because it's probably safe to say that ALL of us have tripped on this
>> exact same issue at some point, maybe every few months for some of us.
>>
>> I guess the only thing that amazes me is that none of the MVDBMS
>> providers (to my knowledge) have ever added an optional runtime trap
>> or log option when an invalid mask is detected at runtime - seems like
>> they're all just missing a Case 1 or Case True fall-through condition.
>>
> Which is why I always use what some people might consider "excessive"
> whitespace ...
>
> TEST.STRING = TRIM(LINE<1>) : "~" : TRIM(LINE<3>) "~" : TRIM(LINE<4>)
>
> The missing colon is a bit more obvious here ...
>
> And again, Primeisms, but Primos packed whitespace fairly well. If you told
> the OS that something was a text file, a string of spaces of any length only
> took two bytes - DC1,n - where n was the number of spaces.
> So I tend to be pretty free with whitespace. I find the Unix way of using
> tabs quite a pain ...
>
> Cheers,
> Wol
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