H
Håvard Danielsen
Guest
I spent close to 10 years alternating between ABL and Java programming and found the variable definition syntax and variable scoping in the ABL being the ABL's biggest obstacle ... by far. (Other than that I think the drawbacks and benefits mostly evens out.) Even if you strive to make methods small there are many cases where the variable definition is or has to be added out of sight. Even if it "just" takes seconds to navigate up and down it adds up and severely affects overall efficiency and productivity. The variable syntax is particularly problematic and verbose for class/object definitions where you very often just want to define and new the variable and you also really don't want the scope outside the block it is used. -- Since it would require entirely new syntax and scoping I would make the syntax similar to ABL function and method parameter definitions and other OO languages and omit the "define variable" and make no-undo default. . Myclass myclass = new MyClass(). -- I did ask language development about the feasibility of doing this a long time ago and got a rather strange and scared look and decided to not mention it again... On the other hand the language is block oriented and we already handle different scoping of parameters versus variables, so it may not be impossible... I suspect this will not get a lot of votes from ABL-only programmers, but it would be important to be able to attract those young developers as mentioned above in this thread..
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