Karen, You may have to determine how old the program code is. I seem to remember that Way..Way.. back when (that is when the underlying rbase.exe and other programs were coded in FORTRAN) you were limited to 8 character variable names. Hence, those obscure names.
On the other hand, the programmer may have been employing a perverse form of job security. In the past I handled the problem by running RSTYLE to get a list of variable names. Determine a better value. Then add it to a file RSYLE.PRE with syntax oldname newname on separate lines for each name. Then you run rstyle again and it changes the names in your command files etc. Jim Bentley American Celiac Society [email protected] tel: 1-504-737-3293 --- On Wed, 2/18/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [RBASE-L] - Annoying program habits To: "RBASE-L Mailing List" <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 3:57 PM Okay, this is driving me crazy. Can I vent? I'm converting an old DOS system. I've always had a problem with programmers who create variable names that are impossible to follow, but how is this for a good variable name: v#x4 His programs are loaded with variable names with # and $ and all kinds of characters that must have been a pain to type, and don't mean anything. The above variable, believe it or not, is for a simple choose menu to trap a customer ID. <shaking head> Karen
