| Re: Error Handling Advice [message #82712 is a reply to message #82711] |
Mon, 14 January 2013 08:51   |
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Paul Van Delst[1]
Messages: 1157
Registered: April 2002
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Senior Member |
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hello,
On 01/14/13 10:05, David Fanning wrote:
> John Correira writes:
>
>> Is there a technical reason behind not making a keyword a required
>> argument, or just a personal preference based on experience? I find it
>> harder to interpret a long series of positional parameters as opposed to
>> a list of somewhat descriptive keywords.
>
> It is not a technical reason so much as a visceral response. :-)
Ha! Good answer!
FWIW I apply the IDL parameter/keyword type for my Fortran95/2003 code.
E.g. if I have
subroutine mysub(a,b,c,d)
real :: a, b
real, optional :: c, d
...
end subroutine mysub
the documentation for this routine's calling sequence is always listed
sort-of like an IDL routine:
! call mysub(a, b, c=c, d=d)
to indicate that "a" and "b" are mandatory arguments, and "c" and "d"
are optional.
> I suppose I write programs differently than most people, but I've never
> had a need to define more than three required arguments in a program
> EVER, as far as I can recall. I'm sure there is a reason for the 10-12 I
> sometimes see in programs I haven't written, but I can't imagine what
> that reason is. People who come to me with those kinds of programs are
> always confused. I just assumed that was one of the reasons why. ;-)
My rule of thumb: More that 3-5 required arguments -> collect them in a
structure! :o)
cheers,
paulv
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