EXIT

[Fairlight]

No, actually, I think Jay is right in what he told me privately...that the
terms being used are in the context of classical interpretive language
nomenclature.

The reality is that there are about 5-6 of us on the list who would have
the background to actually know that.  I was picking it up correctly via
semantical usage.  Ken insists on being opaque on the issue, rather than
simply stating where he's lifting the terms from, and spelling it out
clearly.

Your average, "I have zero clue what I'm doing outside of filePro, nor
do I care to," programmer will have zero idea what the distinction is
unless Ken decides to -stop- being opaque, and/or the tiny minority of
broader-experienced programmers here educate everyone else.

m->

On Mon, Mar 09, 2015 at 03:16:44PM -0400, Bruce Easton thus spoke:
> Occasionally I have wondered about the use of those terms just
> within filepro documentation.  For instance, the online manual at
> fptech.com refers to "HTML Functions" which really seem like
> commands in the filepro sense. But by and large filepro "functions"
> seem to be commands that return a value.  Whether the categorization
> within filepro makes sense outside of filepro or not is not as
> important as consistency of documentation within filepro, imho.
> When a command or function is discussed here, people should simply
> be on the same page with regard to the command/function being
> discussed.   Since the earliest printed filepro manuals, commands
> and functions have been labeled one way or the other within the
> filepro programming language.    When Ken differentiates between a
> "command" versus a "function", I do believe he is strictly speaking
> of such within the filepro programming language.  This helps  avoid
> confusion and enforces how those are referenced in the documentation
> (or should).
> 
> I was able to find in the online manual the description of the
> system *function* in the 5.6 release notes.  I was not able to find
> it there looking just for "System".  However, "SYSTEM()" is
> searchable and well documented with an example in the latest-version
> help available via F10 in Define Processing.
> 
> Bruce
> 
> 
> 
> On 3/9/15 2:14 PM, Fairlight wrote:
> >You say that like it has some meaning, Ken.  Given the utterly shallow
> >documentation filePro has (-rw .. -rz are still documented as deeply as
> >mirror plating, and about as transparently - as witnessed by an exchange
> >I had with a client this week), saying *COMMAND* and *FUNCTION* in the
> >context of filePro's API to any underlying system functionality is
> >laughable.
> >
> >What are you meaning, -exactly-, by "*COMMAND*"?  Because I've -always-
> >considered the damned thing a function which is a wrapper around system(2).
> >If it points to an underlying system function, I consider it a function
> >itself.  Full stop.
> >
> >You apparently have some seemingly arbitrary (but differing) definitions
> >of the two which are not clearly presented, and which appear to follow
> >arbitrary rules which you have yet to properly and concisely explain.
> >Apparently it's not represented by the syntax, as I'd queried...
> >
> >So enlighten me/us...
> >
> >mark->
> >
> >On Mon, Mar 09, 2015 at 01:08:09PM -0400, Kenneth Brody thus spoke:
> >>On 3/9/2015 11:49 AM, Fairlight wrote:
> >>>What's there difference between invoking the two?  Using a variable for the
> >>>return value, or using parentheses?  Or both?
> >>The difference is that one is a *COMMAND*:
> >>
> >>     SYSTEM command_to_execute
> >>
> >>and the other is a *FUNCTION*:
> >>
> >>     status = SYSTEM( command_to_execute )
> >>
> >>>m->
> >>>
> >>>On Mon, Mar 09, 2015 at 09:06:05AM -0400, Kenneth Brody thus spoke:
> >>>>The SYSTEM *command* was never "redone".  Rather, as I wrote in my
> >>>>original reply (quoted above), 5.6 introduced the SYSTEM()
> >>>>*function*.
> >>-- 
> >>Kenneth Brody
> >>
> 
> 
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-- 
Audio panton, cogito singularis.