Ben Pfaff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > John Darrington <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >> On Tue, Jan 24, 2006 at 11:13:00PM -0800, Ben Pfaff wrote: >> >> > Here's what I'd add to the PSPP language: >> > >> > * Some extra syntax on FILE HANDLE for declaring >> > temporary file handles (MODE=TEMPORARY perhaps). >> >> I dropped this. There is no need to declare a temporary file >> handle in advance. Instead, any file handle with a name that >> begins with $ is a temporary file handle. >> >> That makes sense iff the current spss language prohibits file handles >> which begin with $ --- I don't know if that is the case. > > I haven't checked yet, but the manual I have here says "File > handles must conform to SPSS variable naming rules." User > variable names aren't allowed to start with $ so I was making the > same assumption for file handles.
You know, it occurs to me now that # would be a better prefix character for a temporary handle, because # is already used for "scratch variables" have somewhat similar attributes. Perhaps I'll use # as the prefix and call them "scratch files" instead? I like this better than $ and "temporary files". I thought about the compatibility issue a bit more. I don't think it's a problem. First, scratch files apply only when "enhanced syntax" is enabled. Second, correct SPSS syntax will still work even if it has file handles whose names begin with #, because explicitly declaring a file handle on FILE HANDLE whose name begins with # is still allowed (even in enhanced mode). It's just that if you *don't* declare the name (in enhanced mode) it's assumed that it's a scratch file. -- "Sanity is not statistical." --George Orwell _______________________________________________ pspp-dev mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/pspp-dev
