Robert Ngan wrote <begin extract> My preference is to use:
*** b Z Z Z , Z Z 9 . 9 EDMASK DC X'402020206B2020214B20' </end extract> This is, I think, very perspicuous. Still, slips twixt cup and lip do occur; and a macro definition that generated his EDMASK from, say, the picture specification 'bzzz,zz9.9' would, I think, be better.. It could, for example, establish a convention for coping with differences among milieux, so that use of a more abstract, "ivory tower" representation what appeared as " 123,456.20" in most anglophone milieux would become " 123.456.20" in a francophone or non-Swiss italophone one. (To do this, a decimal-fraction-position delimiter must be distinguished from both '.' and ',' etc., etc.) I disagree so strongly with an earlier recommendation to avoid macros that I do not trust myself to comment upon it. I will, however, venture to remind its poster that LIBMAC makes relevant macro definitions readily and immediately available. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA
