SCOUG-Programming Mailing List Archives

<< Previous Message << >> Next Message >>

Date:	Sat, 14 Feb 2004 09:43:57 PST8
From:	"Gregory W. Smith" <gsmith@well.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-programming@scoug.com
To:	scoug-programming@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Programming: PL/I most important statement (was: call(TZ) ? - PL/I)

Content Type: text/plain

Peter Skye wrote:
> Lynn H. Maxson wrote:
> >
> > You created work for yourself by using a begin-block,
> > requiring both a begin and an end statement. You could
> > have achieved both with an allocate statement, letting
> > the system deallocate on procedure end.
>
> This is absolutely false. It is also poor programming. And it is
> wrong.
>
> Consider the following block sequence as exists in my software (this is
> not complete code):
>
> begin
> dcl Matrix1(X,Y);
> end;
> begin
> dcl Matrix2(A,B);
> end;
> begin
> dcl Matrix3(P,Q);
> end;

Engineer's and mathemetician's view:
I need a matrix of of size (x, y, z) for this next series of calculations.

Programmer's view:
I need to allocate x*y*z*sizeof(one_matrix_element) so I will have
enough room to do this next series of calculations.

I am an engineer--I prefer Peter's approach. PL/I's begin/end combination
lets me think like an engineer. C's malloc forces me to think like a
programmer.

--
Gregory W. Smith (WD9GAY) gsmith@well.com

=====================================================

To unsubscribe from this list, send an email message
to "steward@scoug.com". In the body of the message,
put the command "unsubscribe scoug-programming".

For problems, contact the list owner at
"rollin@scoug.com".

=====================================================

Return to [ 14 | February | 2004 ]

SCOUG, Warp Expo West, and Warpfest are trademarks of the Southern California OS/2 User Group. OS/2, Workplace Shell, and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.