

%own initialisation


    The statement:

          %own %integer A

declares an own integer A and initialises it to  0  (the  default  value
when no value is specified).

    The statement:

          %own %integer X, Y, Z=4

declares X, Y and Z and initialises them to 0, 0 and 4 respectively.  In
IMP9 this statement causes X, Y and Z to be set to 4, 4 and 4.  Note the
difference!


    It  is  bad  practice  to  rely  on  default  initialisation values,
especially in IMP80, where existing implementations do not have the same
defaults.  The statements above are unambiguous if given as:

          %own %integer A=0
          %own %integer X=0, Y=0, Z=4


    For convenience, constants used in own array initialisations can  be
followed by a repeat count, in brackets.  This repeat count can be given
as '(*)' where * represents the number of remaining array elements to be
initialised.

Example:
          %own %integer %array VALUES (1:50) = %c
            17, 4, 6(3), 9, 22(17),
            100(*) {all the rest}

    This  also  applies,  of  course,  to  constant  and  external array
initialisation.

    Own arrays can be multi-dimensional; as before the  bounds  must  be
constants  or  constant  expressions.  The order in which array elements
are assigned the initialising values in  the  declaration  statement  is
such that the first subscript changes fastest.

    Thus,  for  an  array  A(1:2,1:3)  the  order of assignment would be
A(1,1), A(2,1), A(1,2), A(2,2), A(1,3), A(2,3).