[Info-vax] VMS internals design, was: Re: BASIC and AST routines

[Dave Froble]

On 12/2/2021 3:14 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 12/2/2021 11:36 AM, John Reagan wrote:
>> On Wednesday, December 1, 2021 at 9:31:29 PM UTC-5, Tim Sneddon wrote:
>>> Dave Froble <da... at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
>>>> Ok, got a bit un-lazy, tried it.
>>>>
>>>> This works:
>>>>
>>>> 1 !************************************************
>>>> ! Timer AST Timeout Handler to Cancel I/O
>>>> !************************************************
>>>>
>>>> SUB TCP_TIMER( LONG CH% , &
>>>> LONG Z2% , &
>>>> LONG Z3% , &
>>>> LONG Z4% , &
>>>> LONG Z5% )
>>>>
>>>> CALL SYS$CANCEL( Loc(CH%) By Value )
>>>>
>>>> SubEnd
>>>>
>>>> This does not work:
>>>>
>>>> 1 !************************************************
>>>> ! Timer AST Timeout Handler to Cancel I/O
>>>> !************************************************
>>>>
>>>> SUB TCP_TIMER( LONG CH% )
>>>>
>>>> CALL SYS$CANCEL( Loc(CH%) By Value )
>>>>
>>>> SubEnd
>
>>> $ HELP/LIBRARY=BASICHELP RUN_TIME_ERRORS TOOMANARG
>>>
>>> RUN_TIME_ERRORS
>>>
>>> TOOMANARG
>>>
>>> Too many arguments (ERR=89)
>>>
>>> A function call or a SUB or FUNCTION statement passed more arguments
>>> than were expected. Reduce the number of arguments. A SUB or
>>> FUNCTION statement can pass a maximum of approximately 32 arguments:
>>> a function call can pass a maximum of eight arguments. This error
>>> cannot be trapped with a BASIC error handler.
>
>> You can suppress that run-time check (and other heavy-handed BASIC features) with
>>
>> OPTION INACTIVE=SETUP
>>
>> In the routine.
>
> But Basic is correct - there are too many arguments
> supplied (or too few arguments expected).
>
> It much be better to fix that than to disable the check.
>
> Arne

You going to advocate "fixing" that "lack of argument count check" in C and 
other languages too?

-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc.      E-Mail: davef at tsoft-inc.com
DFE Ultralights, Inc.
170 Grimplin Road
Vanderbilt, PA  15486