SCOUG-Programming Mailing List Archives

<< Previous Message <<

Date:	Fri, 13 Feb 2004 23:04:46 PST8
From:	"Lynn H. Maxson" <lmaxson@pacbell.net >
Reply-To:	scoug-programming@scoug.com
To:	< "scoug-programming@scoug.com" > scoug-programming@scoug.com >
Subject:	SCOUG-Programming: PL/I most important statement (was: call(TZ) ? - PL/I)

Content Type: text/plain

"...Of these three options, I chose BEGIN. When I leave the
BEGIN block everything is wrapped up automatically and I
have a "fresh start" for the following section of code without
having to check backwards to see what was allocated and
must be deallocated. ..."

Everything is not wrapped up automatically. Only variables
with the automatic, controlled, or based storage attributes get
deallocated on exiting the begin-block. That says variables
with the static storage attribute do not. If you have the same
static variable name declared twice within a procedure, one
declaration must fall will a begin block so that the compiler
knows which is in effect when evaluating an expression.

Again that's one of the two original uses of the begin-block.
If you enjoy having a variable dynamically allocated on entry
to a begin block and deallocated on exit, that's your pleasure.
It still requires two statements, a begin and an end. While it is
fewer keystrokes than an allocate and free statement, it has
the same effect. It still requires the same attention to detail
as to when allocation and deallocation occurs.

You do it with begin (allocate) and end (free), while most
prefer to make it explicit instead of implicit. Your choice.

I thank Bob for reinforcing my earlier response.

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

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 [ 13 | 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.