So, I am having to deal with seemingly archiac language (called PowerOn) where I have a main method, a few datatypes to define variables with, and has the ability to have sub-procedures (essentially void methods) that does not return a type nor accepts any arguements.  The problem here is that EVERYTHING is global.  I've read of these type of languages, but most books take the aproach "Ok, we use to use a horse and cariage, but now, here's a car so let's learn how to work on THAT!" We will NEVER relive those days".  I have to admit, the mind is struggling to think outside of scope and extent.

Well here I am.  I am trying to figure out how to best manage nothing but global variables across several open methods.  Yep, even iterators for for loops have to be defined globaly, which I find myself recycling in different parts of my code.

My Question:  for those that have this type experience, how did programmers deal with a large amount of variables in a global playing field?  I have feeling it just became a mental juggling trick, but I would be interested to know if there were any known aproaches.

You'll need some kind of mental bookkeeping tricks (naming conventions, etc) in order to keep it straight. Also, document, document, document. Since all variables are globals, have a single document with all of them listed, if you can.

Try to have a small number of variables that you always use for temporaries, and remember that THEY ARE TEMPORARY. By constantly re-using the same ones, you'll get into the habit of keeping track of where they are valid or not.

Also, you want to look at the documentation and make sure you know how long variable names can be, and how many characters are actually unique. I know NOTHING about PowerOn, but if it's archaic enough to have only global scope, then it's possible that it's got a limited uniqueness length on identifiers.

I've seen things before with long identifiers, but whose identifiers were only unique in the first 8 characters. So you could have RonnyRayGun and RonnyRayBlaster and they are actually the SAME variable. In such cases I recommend keeping variable names under the 'unique' limit so that you're less likely to accidentally collide.
