GLOSSARY

• COMMON BLOCK - A common block is a group of variables that are part of a group. That way, you just call the group name instead of having to mention each variable each time you're in a new subroutine. USAGE:

In the main program, you can specify three variables to be a part of legendvars:

COMMON legendvars, Rj, maglat, time

In the subroutine, to pass in the above three variables, type in

COMMON legendvars

• STRUCTURES - A group of variables associated with one particular aspect of a dataset can be put together in a structure. That way, you only have to declare the structure instead of all the elements in it in a subroutine. USAGE:

fun = {fun_struct,$

   sleep : float, $

   eatlots : floatarr(100,20), $

   dontdothesis : strarr(50)}

Here, fun_struct is thename of the structure, and the variable is called fun. To pass this structure along, you say

fun_struct, fun

To refer to it's elements and work with them, you just say

fun.dontdothesis = fun.sleep + fun.eatlots

To get details on the structure, type in

help,/structure

Bidushi Bhattacharya
Dept of Atmos Sciences
UCLA
16 April 1998
bhattach@atmos.ucla.edu