On 5/19/06, shark@gulfnet.sd64.bc.ca <shark@gulfnet.sd64.bc.ca> wrote:

I want to understand the "built in" functions (if that is the correct terminology) better. CAP( ) for example. Appears it is defined in OPB.Mod. Ie.

| cap: IF f = Char THEN IF z^.class = Nconst THEN z^.conval^.intval := ORD(CAP(CHR(z^.conval^.intval))); z^.obj := NIL ELSE z := NewOp(op, typ, z) END ELSE err(111); z^.typ := OPT.chartyp END

Can anyone shed a little light on this? With ORD(CAP(CHR(z^.conval^.intval))) present, how is this not a recursive definition?

This is just the compile time evaluation of a "CAP" of a constant value in the source code like e.g. "CAP('x')". This offline evaluation is of course more efficient than loading the constant at run time and then performing the capitalization. The result of the evaluation is copied into the object file but not the code to perform the evaluation at run time. The use "ORD(CAP(CHR(z^.conval^.intval)))" is not really recursive, it is just the compiler using CAP to evaluate a constant CAP in the source code. Normally (for variables) the z := NewOp(op, typ, z) branch is taken and the evaluation code for CAP is compiled into the object file. --Thomas