Q28158: Misleading QB.EXE Message Using Reserved Word in SUB

Article: Q28158
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 6.00 6.00b 7.00 | 6.00 6.00b 7.00
Operating System(s): MS-DOS | OS/2
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | B_QuickBas | mspl13_basic
Last Modified: 2-FEB-1990

Illegally using the reserved word "SEG" in a SUB statement can give
you a misleading error message.

To generate the misleading message, start up the QB.EXE environment of
Microsoft BASIC Compiler Version 6.00 or 6.00b or Microsoft QuickBASIC
Version 4.00, 4.00b, or 4.50, and type the following:

   SUB foo(SEG x AS INTEGER)

The environment highlights the SEG keyword and returns the following:

   Expected: variable or BYVAL or SEG or )

This is because the parser correctly detects that SEG is illegal in a
SUB statement, but shares the error message with DECLARE, so SEG is
misleadingly listed as "expected."

This error message has been clarified in the QBX.EXE environment of
Microsoft BASIC Professional Development System (PDS) Version 7.00 for
MS-DOS and MS OS/2. This situation now produces the following error,
indicating that the SEG keyword is not allowed in that context:

   Expected: parameter or )

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