my ($value1, $real1, $complex1);
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hmm.. okay what was happening before? which of the variables was the my affecting? just the first in the string of variables??

Yes. my takes a variable or a parenthesized list of variables. You would eventually have located that bug if you had at the top of your program

use strict;
use warnings;
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strict would have complained about variables not being declared, and warnings would have warned you about using things like $s = @var[1].

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Caution: Contents may have been coded under pressure.

btw.. you just fixed my problem!! THANKS!!

Your code contains several errors, which is to be expected of someone new to perl, it's $array[fieldnum] not @array[fieldnum] - add "use warnings;" and "use strict;" and you'll find several more (see Use strict warnings and diagnostics or die for more). A bigger question in my mind is why can't you use modules?

i'm trying to add complex number support for a open source program called Lon-Capa made by Michigan State University. Lon-Capa is an online homework submission system. they used perl to make it, and in the way that you define your problems. They use perl script to define how problems are randomly generated. I can't just use a module to make lon-capa understand complex numbers because if i did my problems wouldn't be compadible with lon-capa anymore. What i can do, however, is write a perl library file to do any math that capa doesn't already do. unless you guys know a better way.. hahahahhaa

What i can do, however, is write a perl library file to do any math that capa doesn't already do. unless you guys know a better way.. hahahahhaa

Um, use a *prewritten* "perl library file" to do the math that "capa" doesn't already do?

I'm convinced there is some weird rule in Perl that I'm not following.

Yep. That rule is use warnings;

use warnings;

my $value1, $real1, $complex1;
__END__

Parentheses missing around "my" list at - line 3.
Useless use of a variable in void context at - line 3.
Useless use of a variable in void context at - line 3.
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Oh, and to make it easier to read, you might want to run your perl program through perltidy first to make it easier to read. But that's sort of of side-importance; the most important thing is to reduce the amount of code you posted.

2005-10-14 jdporter restored title b0rkage that left only 'Re:'

Cleaned up the code some, I know many people learn by example so here is how you might improve the code. Declare all variables you want to use with "my", especialy inside of the sub. Grab arguments to the sub with shift (this is iffy and probably good arguments both ways. The important thing it to be consistent.) Indent code inside a sub so that you can tell the scope of that sub (where variables declared inside it with my will retain there uniqness for lack of a better workd.)

sub argComplex {
    my $value1 = shift;  # shift along acts on @_ so its the same as @
+_[0];

    my @construct = &constructComplex($value1);

    my $real1    = @construct[0];
    my $complex1 = @construct[2];

    return atan2($complex1, $real1);
}

my $real1;
my $z;

$real1 = 1;
$z = 1 + i;

print $real1 * argComplex($z);
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P.S. It is easier to help when you provide a working example. In this case people spoted the error but if you break the problem down into a working example to show peopl, 90% of the time you will find your error before posting! ;)

my $value1 = shift; # shift along acts on @_ so its the same as @_[0];

Not really.
shift will remove the first element from @_
@_[0] leaves it in place

Sorry you took that a little literaly. I meant that it filled the same position as @_[0] did in his code. Which IS true. I probably should have made that clearer.


___________
Eric Hodges