global variable or function?

[czardas]

gil900 - There is no one-size-fits-all approach. It's best to declare variables immediately before use (initialized or not) - from Valik.

[BrewManNH]

Someone familiar with another language such as C++ would never declare a variable without also assigning a value to it. In C++ when you declare a variable without assigning a value, that variable can hold the contents of the memory that variable is assigned to, and you'd have no way of knowing what's in that memory location when you do this, so your variable could hold absolutely any value.

This link might help with understanding what I am talking about.

So a person that comes into AutoIt from that other language, or is learning that other language and wants to use that new knowledge in AutoIt, would want to assign something to the variables when they're declared just to be sure they know what's in it.

[guinness]

That's the primary reason I do it, as back when I thought it would ease in the transition from AutoIt to C++, but in the end I went straight to C#.

[Guest]

Yes, this is something I learned recently.

In C/C++ I know that I have to assign to it some empty value if it is Incorrect to assign to it the real value (for memory optimization reasons..)

I hate it.. No one uses variable that hold "who knows?!" So what is the point allow that from the beginning?

In Autoit many things uncomplicated and simple which's what I like.

Edited January 21, 2015 by Guest

[BrewManNH]

C and C++ were written decades ago, they've learned a lot since then.

[Guest]

Ok. But why the developers of C++ continue to allow that? They could not allow that in the new compilers and they did not do it (or they did and I do not know about it) so they may have a good reason. What is the reason allow that? (declare a variable that holds "who knows?!")

[BrewManNH]

Ask the developers of C++ why it's still a PITA language.

[Mat]

C++ doesn't have developers. It's got a committee that agrees on the standard, and then lots of developers for different organisations write the compilers. 

As a slight correction, you can declare variables without defining them, and you can use them. Some compilers won't even warn you (by default) when doing so (I need to to turn on -Wuninitialised with g++ to get this)

C++ has the concept of default constructors, which means the (apparent) declaration sans-definition "myclass someVariable;" calls the myclass() constructor, and so the class variables are defined and it is correct to use someVariable.

The reasoning comes from old C, where it was not valid to declare a new variable anywhere other than the start of scope. As a result, variables holding the result of some calculation would have to be declared (without a value) to be assigned to later on. That was a long time ago though. 

It's also useful for statements like "int someArray[1000000];" where it could take a while to zero the entire thing when you are going to assign them all values anyway.

[guinness]

Local $iAge = Random(0, 100, 1) ; Retrieve a random age from zero to a hundred.
Local $aArray[40000] ; So the question is why create the array here if we only use it after the if statement?

; The variables above are meant to mimic those who declare all variables at the top of a method and/or script.
If Not Random(0, 1, 1) Then ; If zero then exit the application.
    Exit ; But wait, we're exiting and we just declared a massive array for what reason? Nothing?! Oh darn it! What a waste of memory, as this statement could be further down the code.
EndIf
$aArray[1234] = 1234

$iAge = $iAge * 1.0 ; Convert to double.
ConsoleWrite($iAge & @CRLF)

; OR A BETTER APPROACH WOULD BE ...

If Not Random(0, 1, 1) Then ; If zero then exit the application.
    Exit
EndIf
Local $aArray[40000] ; Create the array when used.
$aArray[1234] = 1234

Local $iAge = Random(0, 100, 1) ; Retrieve a random age from zero to a hundred.
$iAge = $iAge * 1.0 ; Convert to double.
ConsoleWrite($iAge & @CRLF)

[Guest]

gil900,

Why do you have this burning desire to reduce the number of lines in your script to an absolute minimum? What do a few more lines matter? The main thing is to keep the code readable so that you can return to it after a while and still understand what on earth is going on.

M23

I just found my home.

I started learning C ++ and in this language I can realize all my burning desires (of this kind)! I'm glad I found new vehicle

C++ allows me to write a nearly everything in one line !!  

I really like this feature.

I found a lot of things that I really like in C ++.

But I still have not found Help file + large library of functions, like in Autoit.

And this is  a "Missing gold mine"

Edited January 25, 2015 by Guest

[Melba23]

gil900,

C++ allows me to write a nearly everything in one line !!

Good luck with debugging that code in the future!

M23

[guinness]

C++ allows me to write a nearly everything in one line !!

And? So does AutoIt to a certain degree, doesn't mean everyone does though.

 

#include <MsgBoxConstants.au3>

Exit GUICreate('AutoIt GUI on one line') + GUICtrlCreateButton('Help', 5, 5, 85, 25) + GUISetState(@SW_SHOW) + MsgBox($MB_SYSTEMMODAL, '', 'Sample messagebox.')

[Guest]

 

And? So does AutoIt to a certain degree, doesn't mean everyone does though.

 

#include <MsgBoxConstants.au3>

Exit GUICreate('AutoIt GUI on one line') + GUICtrlCreateButton('Help', 5, 5, 85, 25) + GUISetState(@SW_SHOW) + MsgBox($MB_SYSTEMMODAL, '', 'Sample messagebox.')

 

 In Autoit you need cheat for it and the result is very limited.

Can you write this in one like:

If $a = $b Then
    Func1()
    Func2()
    Func3()
EndIf

In C++ No problem:

if (a == b) {Func1(); Func2(); Func3();}

gil900,

Good luck with debugging that code in the future!

M23

 

I know. It would probably be a nightmare.

Without good alternatives for ConsoleWrite and _ArrayDisplay it makes it much less convenient to debug.

Do you know about good alternatives?

 

Edited January 25, 2015 by Guest

[guinness]

 Do you know about good alternatives?

Alternatives to what exactly?

[Guest]

In SciTE I can print output directly to the editor when I want to print some var/string.

In C++ it is not like this. If I print some var, I see it cmd window.

Is there a way to implement this in C++ ? Maybe the solution is to use another IDE ?

I use CodeLite Editor.

I hope you understand

[guinness]

What about this >> http://www.jetbrains.com/clion/ 

I use ReSharper in VS2013 and IntelliJ IDEA, so they have a good reputation.

[czardas]

 In Autoit you need cheat for it and the result is very limited.

Can you write this in one like:

If $a = $b Then
    Func1()
    Func2()
    Func3()
EndIf

In C++ No problem:

if (a == b) {Func1(); Func2(); Func3();}

 

Well this got quite silly.

If True Then MsgBox(0, "",Execute('Func1() * Func2() * Func3()'))

Func Func1()
    Return(ConsoleWrite("Hello ")) = 0
EndFunc

Func Func2()
    Return(ConsoleWrite("World")) = 0
EndFunc

Func Func3()
    Return(ConsoleWrite(@LF)) = 0
EndFunc

Edited January 27, 2015 by czardas

[Mat]

Realistically, if you wanted the same effect in AutoIt all you'd have to do is define an alternative character for a newline and then have a pre-processor that converts it to new lines. Something like ~ might work. Wouldn't be especially difficult to make it work with single line If...Then statements.

[BrewManNH]

I wouldn't use ~, because that's used in Scite when you use CTRL-Q to quick comment a line.

[guinness]

Maybe a pipe character (|) then.