Re: [Gretl-devel] matrix declaration in a pakage

On Wed, 4 Jul 2007, Ignacio Diaz-Emparanza wrote: I have just put in place a new Windows snapshot which should have better error-reporting for user-defined functions. As for the issue of "matrix needs to be declared previously", there are two cases: A. The matrix argument is direct or by-value, of type "matrix". In this case it is indeed an error if you type a name to which there corresponds no pre-existing matrix. This error should now be flagged properly. B. The matrix argument is indirect or by-reference, of type "matrix *". In this case, if you type a name, and no matrix exists of that name, a new "null matrix" [in fact, a 1 x 1 matrix with value 0] will be created automatically and supplied as the argument in question. The point is that in case B it's plausible that the function is not interested in the original content of the matrix. but is rather offering to re-size and fill the matrix with something that might be of interest to the caller. (Obviously, if you as the writer of a function package actually expect valid incoming information in such an indirect matrix argument, you'll have to check for this.) I've taken another look at the code, and I don't see anything relevant that should differ between Linux and Windows -- though. of course, I could have missed some weird subtlety! Allin.