Data statement comments & size of exe

[Mark Hunter]

The items coming after a data statement, whether numbers
or quoted strings, are always treated as strings.

So if you want to comment a data statement you must
preceed the comment by a colon like this

data 1,2,3,4 :'this is some data

If you are concerned about the size of your executable,
you should slam the colon right up against the last
datum -- because whatever is between the last datum and
the colon adds a corresponding number of bytes to the
executable. A tab adds one byte, a space adds one byte.

This is true even though the last datum will be read
as you would expect -- without the tabs or spaces.

You can try this out on a trivial example

read a$
print a$;"x"
data 1,2,3,4 :'xxxx

[Mel Bishop]

Just out of curosity, what flavor of basic are you using. In
mine (pb 2.1f), commented statements are not included in the
executable and therefore do not affect the .EXE size.
Numbers are read as numbers and strings as strings. For example,

read a,b,c$
print;a,b,c$
data 1,2,"This is a quoted string"

will compile and run just fine. Or maybe it's just I am missing
something.


------------------

[Mark Hunter]

PB 3.5

It's not a question of compilation -- it compiles perfectly.
But if you're concerned about the size of your executable,
put the colon smack against the last data item. The
compiler won't do it for you.


[This message has been edited by Mark Hunter (edited March 10, 2001).]

[Mel Bishop]

Please excuse me my dyslexia. I had to re-read the original
post half a dozen times before it filtered in to what you were
saying. I wrote a small test program and added TAB's, one at a
time. The .EXE originally compiled to 27,512 bytes and then,
after just one more tab, jumped in size to 27,528 bytes (a
16-byte increase). I think this is based on memory structure.
I seem to recall that segments are separated by 16-byte blocks
or something like that. Anyway, that's a good thing to keep in
mind for future reference.


------------------