MartyConnelly
martyconnelly at shaw.ca
Mon Jun 12 21:22:55 CDT 2006
You will run into this problem with any P-Code interpreter rather than a compiler from APL to the old Borland Turbo Pascal. Stuart McLachlan wrote: >On 12 Jun 2006 at 16:16, Heenan, Lambert wrote: > > > >>Sorry , can't agree with that either. Public variables are there so that >>code written for ancient systems, running languages that had only one kind >>of variable - public ones - can continue to be run. It's a backward >>compatibility feature. I know that may seem like a bold, overarching >>statement, but look at the history of programming languages. Why was the >>concept of 'local variables' dreamt up? Because having all global variables >>was a nightmare The fact that lots people (myself included!) have a tendency >>to cut corners and use them as a quick and dirty way to get data moving from >>one module to another does not mean that it's a good idea. There's really >>no excuse for using a global, as rewriting the code to use local variables >>requires very little effort. >> >> >> > >I'm with Drew on this one. Just because you now have local variables, >doesn't mean that there is no place for globals. Sure, "all global >viariables was a nightmare" but we're not talking about "all global" here. >There are a still situations where a global is the simplest and best >solution. Why limit yourself to only using some of the tools in you >toolbag? >... > > >>it's based on the idea that a global, by its very >>nature can be modified from almost anywhere at all in code, and that makes >>for a debug/maintenance problem. >> >> >> > >It's poor design that makes the problem there, not globals. The same can be >said for any other alternative to a global such as Static Function, Class >Property etc. > > > -- Marty Connelly Victoria, B.C. Canada