TAL Programmer's Guide

Formatting Programs

Structuring Programs

096254 Tandem Computers Incorporated 3–17

Using Semicolons Use semicolons to end each data declaration and to separate successive statements.

Ending Data Declarations

Here is an example of using semicolons to end data declarations:

INT num1;

INT num2;

INT num3;

STRING char1;

STRING char2;

The following example is equivalent to the preceding example:

INT num1, num2, num3;

STRING char1, char2;

Separating Successive Statements

You must use a semicolon between successive statements. A semicolon before the last

END keyword of a procedure or subprocedure is optional.

PROC myproc;

BEGIN

INT num1;

INT num2 := 8;

INT total;

num1 := 9; !Required semicolon

total := num1 + num2; !Optional semicolon

END;

Using Semicolons Within Statements

Within a statement:

You can use a semicolon before the END keyword that terminates a compound

statement.

You cannot use a semicolon just before an ELSE or UNTIL keyword.

IF a < b THEN

BEGIN

a := 1;

b := 2; !Optional semicolon

END !No semicolon here

ELSE

a := 0;

a := a + b !No semicolon here

UNTIL

a < b;