KVC@ENGVAX.UUCP.UUCP (01/27/87)
> hmmmm.... will this is totally consistent with the call/function having > two required parameters, I just checked the uVMS Programming Support Manual > and the VMS mini-reference and they both insist that sys$wake has two > OPTIONAL arguments (and that they are independent). > > score; 1 mistake by me, 1 by Digital.... Unfortunately, Digital can even be excused for this one... When calling System Services, "optional" means that the value 0 is to be passed by value in place of the left-out optional parameter. When calling System Services from MACRO, BLISS, Pascal, or any other real programming language, this is often hidden by macros that define the system services in such a way that you can completely ignore optional parameters. FORTRAN does know enough to be able to pass a zero by value when nothing appears between the commas in the list. I don't know why System Services don't check the argument count. Probably for the same reasons (whatever they may be) that not all string descriptors are acceptable by System Services that take string descriptor arguments. /Kevin Carosso kvc%engvax.UUCP@usc-oberon.usc.edu Hughes Aircraft Co.