[Info-vax] Logical names, was: Re: Command Procedure Pipe output to a variable

[Simon Clubley]

On 2021-10-08, Dave Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
> On 10/8/2021 3:02 PM, VAXman- at SendSpamHere.ORG wrote:
>> In article <sjq1cj$2rc$1 at dont-email.me>, Simon Clubley <clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> writes:
>>> On 2021-10-08, Stephen Hoffman <seaohveh at hoffmanlabs.invalid> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> As for the use of logical names in managing apps, the sheer unmitigated
>>>> joy of having some logical name silently and out-of-band defined
>>>> somewhere else utterly derailing production processing in some weird
>>>> way is something I will always treasure, of course.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Perhaps what we need is a schema for logical name tables so that
>>> only expected logical names can appear in a table. :-)
>>>
>>> On a more serious note, does anyone else wish you could attach a comment
>>> to a logical name definition so that you could see in SHOW LOGICAL
>>> what the purpose of a logical is ?
>>>
>>> The comment could also include the valid values as well if the logical
>>> is used for configuration.
>>
>> Good grief.
>>

I see you like my suggestion about as well as normal Brian. :-)

>
> An apt response.
>
> One does not, if one is competent, hardcode data into a program. 
> External tables are much more appropriate for that.
>

You are not hardcoding data. You are adding a comment about what
the logical name does, including any valid values it can contain
if you are using it as a configuration variable.

Do you document the fields in the definition for an ISAM table ?

Do you document the fields within the definition of a SQL table ?

Do you document the fields for the tables in your own database ?

Do you document the variables within your programs ?

Do you document the variables within your command procedures ?

Logical names are variables in the same way as all of the above and
it would be nice to be able to document them at source in the same
way as you can all of the above (hopefully including your own
database).

BTW, definitions within application programs are only one way in
which logicals can be defined.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.