[fpc-pascal] fpc has trouble with array types

[Sven Barth]

Am 18.10.2011 05:47, schrieb Andrew Pennebaker:
> But, but, the docs imply that this is the syntax for a function that
> returns an array of bytes.
[snip]
> function XlatPrime () : array of byte;
> begin
> XlatPrime := (
> $64, $73, $66, $64, $3b, $6b, $66, $6f,
> $41, $2c, $2e, $69, $79, $65, $77, $72,
> $6b, $6c, $64, $4a, $4b, $44, $48, $53,
> $55, $42, $73, $67, $76, $63, $61, $36,
> $39, $38, $33, $34, $6e, $63, $78, $76,
> $39, $38, $37, $33, $32, $35, $34, $6b,
> $3b, $66, $67, $38, $37
> );
> end;

Free Pascal (and Delphi and TP) does not support such syntax. I suggest 
you that you define your array as a const instead of a function and just 
use that.

E.g.

const
   XlatPrime: array[0..52] of Byte = (
     $64, $73, $66, $64, $3b, $6b, $66, $6f,
     $41, $2c, $2e, $69, $79, $65, $77, $72,
     $6b, $6c, $64, $4a, $4b, $44, $48, $53,
     $55, $42, $73, $67, $76, $63, $61, $36,
     $39, $38, $33, $34, $6e, $63, $78, $76,
     $39, $38, $37, $33, $32, $35, $34, $6b,
     $3b, $66, $67, $38, $37
   );

It is necessary to specify the element count correctly.

Note: In trunk you should be able to do the following:

type
   TByteArray = array of Byte;

function XlatPrime(): TByteArray;
begin
   XlatPrime := TByteArray.Create(
     $64, $73, $66, $64, $3b, $6b, $66, $6f,
     $41, $2c, $2e, $69, $79, $65, $77, $72,
     $6b, $6c, $64, $4a, $4b, $44, $48, $53,
     $55, $42, $73, $67, $76, $63, $61, $36,
     $39, $38, $33, $34, $6e, $63, $78, $76,
     $39, $38, $37, $33, $32, $35, $34, $6b,
     $3b, $66, $67, $38, $37
   );
end;

This feature was introduced because of Delphi compatibilty (and I still 
have the opinion that it would be nice if that would be extended for 
"unnamed" array types as well...)

Regards,
Sven