The previous section emphasized that modules with arguments are given a local symbol table. In contrast, a module that has no arguments shares the global symbol table. All variables in such a module are global, which implies that if you modify the value of a matrix inside the module, that change persists when the module exits.
The following example shows a module with no arguments:
/* module without arguments, all symbols are global. */ proc iml; a = 10; /* a is global */ b = 20; /* b is global */ c = 30; /* c is global */ start Mod1; /* begin module */ p = a+b; /* p is global */ c = 40; /* c already global */ finish; /* end module */ run Mod1; /* run the module */ print a b c p;
Notice that after the module exits, the following conditions exist:
a
is still 10.
b
is still 20.
c
has been changed to 40.
p
is created, added to the global symbol table, and set to 30.