Re: separate embedded procedures?

[rosen@pogo.den.mmc.com (Jerome D. Rosen)]

In article <D54r9E.4w4@inmet.camb.inmet.com>,
Tucker Taft <stt@henning.camb.inmet.com> wrote:
>
>By the way, in large systems I have found subunits
>to generally be a pain, as well as nesting of units
>inside subprograms...
>
>-Tucker Taft  stt@Inmet.com
>Intermetrics, Inc.

One exception we've found to Tucker's Rule (subunit = pain)
is that subunits can be useful in isolating compilation
dependencies ("with"-ing) in bodies.  That is, if you're
stuck with referencing a messy (SYSTEM, UNCHECKED_XXX,
MOTIF, X, etc.) or frequently changing (MY_SYSTEMS_
GLOBAL_DECLARATIONS_PKG) package spec somewhere in a body,
you can isolate the code requiring the dependency in a
procedure and then isolate the procedure in a subunit.  
This works best when for whatever reason the code in
question _must_ have visibility to declarations in the
enclosing unit (and thus can't be in a distinct package),
the enclosing unit itself is large, and because of the
aforementioned dependencies, you find yourself recompiling
that large original unit frequently.

JRo (Jerome D. Rosen)
Granite Sentry Program, Colorado Springs, CO