Globals and Dimensioning

[Charles Dietz]

I stumbled on the following statement in the manual on p.254:

"If an array is defined as GLOBAL outside of a Sub or Function, you must still
include the GLOBAL keyword in the DIM statement"

i.e. DIM a(1 to 500) AS GLOBAL STRING

I have a lot of arrays that I declare in an inc file outside of all Subs and
Functions, but which I dimension without redeclaring them as GLOBAL and type.
I have never had any problems with the code (as far as I know).

I wonder if the manual is in error here, or if I need to go back and change
all my dimension statements. Would appreciate some help.



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[Lance Edmonds]

At present, the GLOBAL clause is actually optional, but recommended for clarity since it is possible to have a local array with the same name as a global array.

Essentially, if you explicitly add the GLOBAL clause, there is no ambiguity when you come back to review the code in 2 years time. Think of it as a small step toward more easily maintainable code.

The current behavior _could_ change in future editions of the compiler, so it would be a safe bet to add the GLOBAL clause where appropriate. If the behavior does not change, it costs you nothing except improved clarity.

I hope this helps!




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Lance
PowerBASIC Support
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[Charles Dietz]

Thanks Lance, it does help.

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