help with strings and removing stuff

[r0ssar00]

i built a lib for finding the biggest word in a string with three words or less

when i use the lib from within it, like a proc, it works fine, but when i import it into a test prog that i wrote up, it returns the shortest word

it only manifests itself when the data passed to it is in the form of a variable. when the data passed to it is just a string not in a var, as in on the same line, in brackets, it works fine.

could i get some help with this?

its just a general lib that can b used for anything, its not very specific except for what it does.

the main object is returnBiggest and it's a function


heres the prog

code:

unit %comment out to test in lib file, otherwise, uncomment to allow importing module processName     export returnBiggest     var biggest : string     fcn returnBiggest (name : string) : string         var firstName := name         for i : 1 .. length (name)             if name (i) = " " then                 firstName := name (1 .. i - 1)                 exit             end if         end for         var middleName := ""         var firstSpace := 0         if firstName not= name then             for i : 1 .. length (name)                 if name (i) = " " and firstSpace ~= 0 then                     middleName := name (firstSpace + 1 .. i - 1)                 end if                 if name (i) = " " then                     firstSpace := i                 end if             end for         end if         var lastName := ""         if firstName + " " + middleName not= name then             for i : 1 .. length (name)                 if name (i) = " " then                     lastName := name (i + 1 .. *)                 end if             end for         end if         var lengths : array 1 .. 3 of int         lengths (1) := length (firstName)         lengths (2) := length (middleName)         lengths (3) := length (lastName)         if lengths (1) > lengths (2) and lengths (1) > lengths (3) then             biggest := firstName         elsif lengths (2) > lengths (1) and lengths (2) > lengths (3) then             biggest := middleName         elsif lengths (3) > lengths (1) and lengths (3) > lengths (2) then             biggest := lastName         end if         result biggest     end returnBiggest end processName

and my test proggy, asks for three words or less, then prints out the result of variable returned

code:

import processName in "./determine.tu" var words : string var returned : string put "enter three words max: " .. get words returned := processName.returnBiggest (words) put returned, " is the biggest word"

i really need this 2 work, the problem is probly somethin stupid, but i cant find it, plz help

[beard0]

you're really gonna kick youself:

r0ssar00 wrote:

code:

get words

See it? No? :* might help get multiple words

[r0ssar00]

i kicked myslef a million times, i was right, it was somethin stupid, and it works completly now, thanks a lot. sometimes its the stupid things u miss when looking at the big picture on how it works

[wtd]

A "good practices" note:

code:

returned := processName.returnBiggest (words) put returned, " is the biggest word"

What does "returned" mean? Sure, it's the value returned form the returnBiggest function, but there are lots of functions.

A more meaningful name would be:

code:

biggestInputWord := processName.returnBiggest (words) put biggestInputWord, " is the biggest word"

[r0ssar00]

i had only made a test program for example, conventions can go to hell in it for all i care, in my other program that uses it, i have meaningful var names. sorry, i should have done it, but it was a quicky prog.

[wtd]

I understand, but you should get into the habit. Otherwise bad habits creep into all of your code.