Why use Local and Global at all?

[guinness]

You still have to understand scope in other languages. AutoIt is kind enough to provide you keywords where you can in theory define a global variable inside a function (awful though).

[czardas]

4 hours ago, gil900 said:

This is one effort that you must do at the include stage/step. This is compared to more then one effort that you must do if you don't do it (write always Local ... in functions )

Well I generally write stuff I might use again in the future.

[philkryder]

 

remove duplicate posting

Edited April 12, 2016 by philkryder
remove duplicate posting

[philkryder]

On 4/10/2016 at 8:23 PM, czardas said:

If you intend to combine your scripts with those written by other people, then the available name choices for local variables will be restricted if any of the libraries contain global variables. Then there is the annoyance of having to track down the bugs that are more likely to occur. Additionally your code would be potentially unstable and therefore unsuitable for others to use for these exact same reasons. In many ways it's a non-starter, or rather badly written code.

It's not something to worry too much about when you are an absolute beginner, but as soon as you learn some basics of programming, you should start to improve the way you write code. In the long term, you will benefit more from having made the extra effort.

This seems like an example where the $g_ convention helps a lot. None of the globals will conflict with locals if the $g_ is followed.

[czardas]

Yes naming conventions help the development process, but it's not enough to put trust in this method alone. Program stability comes with well thought out design and several language features exist which also act as a kind of safety net. Ignoring convention often comes at a price and should never be done without good reason. Having to do less typing is not a good enough reason to avoid declaring the scope of a variable. I can only think of one or two scenarios where doing this could be considered acceptable, and they have very little to do with writing a program for others to use: I did it myself (earlier in this thread) as an example of badly written code.

Edited April 12, 2016 by czardas

[Tumulus]

I believe this has already been posted and reiterated on this topic, but aside from any functionality issues, it is just good coding practice.

First, if you make a mistake and declare a Global or Local variable in the wrong place it is easier to identify. Also, there is a lot less confusion in the code, especially when a code you've written is being used or modified by someone else. I mean, even if you came back to your own code after a while to add to it or modify it everything is clearer when Local and Global are used. 

I mean, lets say you took the same approach to variable names. You can name your variables anything, so functionally there is no reason to use long names. If you named all your variables a single letter in alphabetical order as you use them in your code it would function fine, but you or anyone else would have a terrible time working with it. Convention is important in coding as well as functionality.

[Guest]

If this is so good, why it does not exist in C++ or other languages? According to most approaches here, this feature should be considered to be realized in other languages.
But it did not happen. maybe other languages people think that this is unnecessary or not important enough?

Edited April 13, 2016 by Guest

[czardas]

Quote

Pullum argued that the fact that number of word roots for snow is similar in Eskimoan languages and English proves that there exists no difference in the breadth of their respective vocabularies to define snow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo_words_for_snow

Edited April 14, 2016 by czardas

[jchd]

Is that for Global or Local snow?

[czardas]

Does it matter? It's 180 different shades of white. 

[iamtheky]

20 minutes ago, czardas said:

Does it matter? It's 180 different shades of white. 

I have heard that book is 3.6x cleaner than 50 Shades of Grey. 

[czardas]

That's a just the result of atmospheric pollution. 

Edited April 14, 2016 by czardas