Re: Subprocedure questions

["Buck Calabro" <calabro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Scott wrote:

>Do you use subroutines within a subprocedure???
>
>Do you think it is a good idea to mix subroutines into a
>nomain module???

 

I would argue that BEGSR/ENDSR is dead now that we have prototyped procedure support.

 

Subprocedures at least give the programmer a hint about how to decompose the routines properly (explicitly defined parameters.)  In a subroutine there's no mental brake advising you to "Stop!  Don't add that new function in there!"  How many times have we seen a GETCRD BEGSR that "gets credit rating" and as long as the subr did a CHAIN to CUSMAS, why not add the code to update the A/R balance, and as long as we're hitting the A/R balance, why not add code to modify the credit rating?  All too soon, there's a mess - it's all mainline code with EXSR substituted for GOTO.

 

There's no guarantee that your programmers will refuse to use global data in a procedure, but I would argue that the new construct will encourage better programming more than the old one will.

 

Buck Calabro