SIMSCRIPT II.5 Programming Language

Advanced Topics
is executed, the routine INFLUENCE is called with the arguments JOB and MAN — two pointer values
identifying temporary entities. The routine then might perform the following as:
function INFLUENCE(I,J)
define I and J as integer values
if PRIORITY(I) > PM
and STATUS(J) > 5M
return with (STATUS((J)/5M) * (PRIORITY(I)/PM))
otherwise
return with 1
end
returning the apparent attribute value.
6.7 Two Illustrations of Set Ranking by Function Attributes
As described in paragraph 4.8, sets are normally ranked on either the order in which entities are filed
in them (FIFO and LIFO) or on the values of some attributes of their member entities. In the latter
case, although cascading can be used to resolve ties, only simple single-attribute ranking comparisons
can be made. Complex ranking comparisons can be devised using function attributes as ranking
variables. Program 6-1 illustrates how a function attribute can be used to define a ranking
variable that is the weighted average of several attribute values.
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