[SOLVED] Is there a best method for returning a function value?

[PascalDragon]

Yes, that's essentially how it works. No need to make this more complex than necessary.

Just curiousity.... wouldn't allowing the "&" as a valid character in an identifier (and possibly requiring that if used, it must be the first character) have accomplished the same thing ?... am I missing some case where that would not have worked ?

Not really, because the purpose of & is to convert keywords (like type or end) to identifiers. These are handled differently by the scanner than identifiers. Despite this the & prefix needs to work for non-keyword identifiers as well. The scanner is already on the lookout for &, because that's the prefix for octal numbers in FPC; also in mode MacPas & and | are used for shorthand boolean evaluation expressions. Thus it was easier to add it to the scanner this way.

The code as it is is rather simple (from scanner.pas, line 4810):

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1.              '&' :
2.                begin
3.                  if [m_fpc,m_delphi] * current_settings.modeswitches <> [] then
4.                   begin
5.                     readnumber;
6.                     if length(pattern)=1 then
7.                       begin
8.                         { does really an identifier follow? }
9.                         if not (c in ['_','A'..'Z','a'..'z']) then
10.                           message2(scan_f_syn_expected,tokeninfo^[_ID].str,c);
11.                         readstring;
12.                         token:=_ID;
13.                         idtoken:=_ID;
14.                       end
15.                     else
16.                       token:=_INTCONST;
17.                     goto exit_label;
18.                   end
19.                  else if m_mac in current_settings.modeswitches then
20.                   begin
21.                     readchar;
22.                     token:=_AMPERSAND;
23.                     goto exit_label;
24.                   end
25.                  else
26.                   Illegal_Char(c);
27.                end;
28.  

[440bx]

The scanner is already on the lookout for &, because that's the prefix for octal numbers in FPC; also in mode MacPas & and | are used for shorthand boolean evaluation expressions. Thus it was easier to add it to the scanner this way.

I see.  Thank you for the additional information.

[GypsyPrince]

@zamronypj

I wish that "result" variable can be mapped to another more meaningful name.

I am unsure if this is what you meant.  But this is how I "remap" the result keyword...

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. {$macro on}{$Define Return:=result}
2.  
3. Procedure MyProc(Param1: Type1; Param2: Type2): Int64;
4.   var intRslt : Int64;
5.  
6. Begin
7.     intRslt := <somevalue>
8.  
9.     Return := intRslt;
10. End;
11.  

Because of my C background (and .NET more recently), 'Return' just seems far more intuitive to me.

Likewise, it screws with my head for an If/Else block to not use an EndIf terminator.  So, I use this, instead...

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. {$macro on}{$Define Return:=result}{$Define End_If:=//}
2.  
3. Procedure MyProc(Param1: Type1; Param2: Type2): Int64;
4.   var intRslt : Int64;
5.  
6. Begin
7.     intRslt := somevalue
8.  
9.     If intRslt <> someothervalue Then
10.         intRslt := someothervalue;
11.     End_If; //False terminator
12.  
13.     Return := intRslt;
14. End;

The reason I do it is because

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. If intRslt <> someothervalue Then
2.     intRslt := someothervalue;

screws with my brain when I see it with no terminator.  What would really make my day is if fp would stop using the curly brackets "{ }" to enclose directives and comments so they could instead be remapped via a macro to take the place of the 'begin' and 'end' keywords.  I could do this...

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. [$macro on][$Define Return:=result][$Define {:=begin][$Define }:=end][$Define End_If:=//]
2.  
3. Procedure MyProc(Param1: Type1; Param2: Type2): Int64;
4.   var intRslt : Int64;
5. {
6.     intRslt := somevalue
7.  
8.     If intRslt <> someothervalue Then
9.         intRslt := someothervalue;
10.     End_If; //False terminator
11.  
12.     Return := intRslt;
13. };

Then, I could perform my Snoopy happy dance!  But, alas... this will never come to be (and I won't ask for it).  And unfortunately, as well, my beloved C will never be available in a WYSIWYG/RAD IDE.

[munair]

The reason I do it is because

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. If intRslt <> someothervalue Then
2.     intRslt := someothervalue;

screws with my brain when I see it with no terminator.

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. If intRslt <> someothervalue Then
2. begin
3.   intRslt := someothervalue;
4. end;

If that will ease your mind.

[zamronypj]

@zamronypj

I wish that "result" variable can be mapped to another more meaningful name.

I am unsure if this is what you meant.  But this is how I "remap" the result keyword...

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. {$macro on}{$Define Return:=result}
2.  
3. Procedure MyProc(Param1: Type1; Param2: Type2): Int64;
4.   var intRslt : Int64;
5.  
6. Begin
7.     intRslt := <somevalue>
8.  
9.     Return := intRslt;
10. End;
11.  

"result" is special variable inside a function. Your solution requires temporary local variable to be declared inside function. What i mean is a way to rename "result" variable to something else and compiler treats it as result variable of function without need to declare another local variable.

Macro helps but i think it is quite cumbersome to use if I have many functions that I want to map its result variable

[Otto]

 @GypsyPrince
Hello.

The reason I do it is because

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. If intRslt <> someothervalue Then
2.     intRslt := someothervalue;

screws with my brain when I see it with no terminator.

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. If intRslt <> someothervalue Then
2. begin
3.   intRslt := someothervalue;
4. end;

If that will ease your mind.

Maybe the "Jedi Code Formatter" could help you.
“Source>>Jedi Code Formatter>>Format Setting>>Clarify>>Transform>>Add begin and end to single statements”

 
I used it to solve a very different problem, which I described in this thread, but using different configurations might be useful to you.
There are also other similar tools that could be used as an alternative.