Sorry, in oversimplifying for clarity I was making it more unclear!
Whenever I write a function, I like to write a quick ad hoc test to
go with it in the comments. It means I can also test combinations of
functions together quickly, without having to build other functions
first, and gives anyone reading the function a quick idea of the type
of inputs/outputs they might see. I've mostly worked with SQL Server,
and with that I can write statements that might need to be within a
function in ad hoc fashion.
A common example is when I write an insert statement that returns the
primary key of the inserted row. I'd like to capture that in a
variable and run it through other functions. To be able to declare
variables outside a function would be helpful in this respect.
It's just a quick way to an easy test, in my view, but if it's not
possible then that's ok, I'll just write full blown test functions
from the start.
Regards,
Iain