Guru: Passing Parameters From The Command Line

February 6, 2017 Jon Paris

In my previous “Fundamentals” tips, I discussed the importance of making sure parameters are the correct size and how to correctly handle omitted parameters. In this tip I want to address what has to be the most frequently asked question about parameters.

The most frequently asked parameter question comes in many forms, such as:

• “How do you pass them from the command line?”
• “Why do I see garbage in the back end of my character parameters?”
• “Why are my numeric values passed incorrectly?”

Usually these questions arise when a programmer wants to simplify the testing of a program and does …