:= (colon-equal)    Release 3.30

The colon-equal symbol (:=) is useful for forcing assignments and for assigning variables while returning the results of that assignment. However, when this assignment operator is used in any expression (for example, in the condition of an IF THEN statement), parentheses must be used to clarify the order of execution. Otherwise, unexpected results may occur. If you wish to be sure about the order of processing, use parentheses, as in the following code fragment:

IF ( X:=POS(X$,Y$) ) THEN GOTO LINE_LABEL

LET Release 3.50

Four numeric assignment operators (+=, -=, *= and /=) are now supported for the LET statement. These operators can be used when adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing a variable and assigning the result to the same variable. Thus, a statement previously coded as

LET NUM_DAYS=NUM_DAYS+6

can now be coded as:

LET NUM_DAYS+= 6

Besides offering substantial savings in code size and execution time, this feature helps prevent the typing errors that can occur with the use of longer variable names. See your Supplemental Programs diskette or your initial Business Rules! 3.50 system for a copy of the program PLUSEQ.WB if you wish to automatically change existing programs to take advantage of this feature.