RE: subprocedure questions

[Scott Klement <klemscot@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 7 Nov 2002, Haas, Matt wrote:
>
> A better way would be to create a data structure for these two values
> and return the data structure just like you would when dealing with
> API's. This makes the program much easier to maintain if you need to
> return another field in the future.
>

I disagree with this statement.   There are cases when returning a data
structure is a good technique, but not for a simple 'CVTA2N' subprocedure.

Using a data structure makes for much less elegant code wherever this
subprocedure is called.   While that might be necessary for a complex
subprocedure, for something this simple it just adds complexity.

Instead, I'd do this:

     D CVTA2N          PR            30P 9
     D   ACGAMT                      32A   const
     D   ERRORS                      30A   options(*nopass)


The optional parameter would be for reporting error information if
the convert fails, but the programmer may not always care about that,
so, I made it optional.

Since the return value is passed by value, you can assign it to any
numeric variable, eliminating the need to add code to convert it to
zoned/packed/longer/shorter/more decimals/less decimals, etc.