Re: [Gretl-devel] scrap "halt_on_error" switch?

Sounds sensible to me. PS ________________________________________ From: gretl-devel-bounces(a)lists.wfu.edu [gretl-devel-bounces(a)lists.wfu.edu] on behalf of Allin Cottrell [cottrell(a)wfu.edu] Sent: Saturday, July 06, 2013 9:27 AM To: Gretl development Subject: [Gretl-devel] scrap "halt_on_error" switch? Hello all, I'm thinking that I'd like to get rid of option to do set halt_on_error off in gretl. But here's an opportunity to object if you are so moved. Brief reminder: halt_on error means that if an error is encountered in running a script, execution of the script stops. (When using gretlcli with the -b or --batch flag this means that the program will exit.) This is the default behavior, but setting "halt_on_error off" will (with something less than 100% reliability?) cause script execution to continue in face of errors -- unless gretl is currently "compiling" a loop or function, in which case it stops execution regardless of the halt_on error state. This mechanism predates the "catch" modifier for commands -- and I would say that unlike "catch" it is pretty much useless if not dangerous. The halt_on_error off-switch was originally introduced as an aid to debugging gretl itself, but I haven't found any use for it in that capacity in the last several years. It's a complication we could do without. Just to be clear: if I make the proposed change, it means that in effect "halt_or_error" is always on. But you can still use "catch" to test a given script command for an error condition and continue on error if that seems appropriate. For (minimal) backward compatibility we could make it so that issuing the command "set halt_on_error off" does not itself provoke an error, but just prints something like "Warning: obsolete 'set' argument ignored". Allin _______________________________________________ Gretl-devel mailing list Gretl-devel(a)lists.wfu.edu http://lists.wfu.edu/mailman/listinfo/gretl-devel