On Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:22:29 -0500 Paul Gilmartin <[email protected]> wrote:
:>On Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:11:35 +0200, Binyamin Dissen wrote: :>>On Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:09:15 -0000 Terry Sambrooks wrote: :>>:>The question I have been asked relates to whether REXX supports :>>:>multi-dimensional arrays. There is a lot of discussion in the manuals about :>>:>single dimension arrays a.k.a. STEM variables, but additional dimensions are :>>:>not covered which leads me to conclude that multi-dimensional arrays are not :>>:>supported. :>True, they are not. :>>Why can't stems be multi-dimensional? :>>STEM.x.y.z :>Which is equivalent to: :> I = x'.'y'.'z :> STEM.I :>But this suffers an ambiguity. Consider: :> I = 'A.B' :> J = 'C' :> X = 'A' :> Y = 'B.C' :>Then STEM.I.J and STEM.X.Y refer to the same variable, :>even though I<>X and J<>Y. When this occurs, admittedly :>seldom but not never, the astonishment factor is likely :>to be enormous. Also when a = "4" b = "04" Even though a=b, stem.A<>stem.B Plenty of ammunition if one plans to shoot at the toes. :>FORTRAN introduces a similar ambiguity with its flattening :>of subscripts. -- Binyamin Dissen <[email protected]> http://www.dissensoftware.com Director, Dissen Software, Bar & Grill - Israel Should you use the mailblocks package and expect a response from me, you should preauthorize the dissensoftware.com domain. I very rarely bother responding to challenge/response systems, especially those from irresponsible companies. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
