[Oorexx-devel] How to use the new constant directive

[Mark M. <mie...@gm...>]

Rick is probably the only one that knows this answer.

I've been looking forward to the constant directive, so I went to try
it with 1916.  This is how I expected it to work:

  say 'This is only a test'

  say 'The value of pi:' MathConstants~PI
  say 'Biggest long:   ' MathConstants~MAX_LONG
  say 'Smallest long:  ' MathConstants~MIN_LONG

::class 'MathConstants'
::constant PI 3.1
::constant MAX_LONG 2147483647
::constant MIN_LONG '-2147483648'


E:\work.ooRexx\ooRexxUnit\3.x>..\qTest.rex
This is only a test
     4 *-* say 'The value of pi:' MathConstants~PI
Error 97 running E:\work.ooRexx\ooRexxUnit\qTest.rex line 4:  Object
method not found
Error 97.1:  Object "MATHCONSTANTS" does not understand message "PI"

Well, actually I expected this to work:

::constant PI 3.1
::constant MAX_LONG 2147483647
::constant MIN_LONG -2147483648'

But the syntax message says it has to be a string or a symbol.

E:\work.ooRexx\ooRexxUnit\3.x>..\qTest.rex
    13 *-* ::constant MIN_LONG -2147483648
Error 19 running E:\work.ooRexx\ooRexxUnit\qTest.rex line 13:  String
or symbol expected
Error 19.916:  String or symbol expected as ::CONSTANT value

Any hints as to how to use ::constant?  <grin>

--
Mark Miesfeld