Each ECL definition ECL definition is the basic building block of ECL. A definition specifies what is done but not how it is to be done. Definitions can be thought of as a highly developed form of macro-substitution, making each succeeding definition more and more highly leveraged upon the work that has gone before. This results in extremely efficient query construction. All definitions take the form: [Scope] [ValueType] Name Name [ (parms) ] := Expression Expression [ :WorkflowService] ; The Definition Operator Definition Operator ( := read as “is defined as”) defines an expression. On the left side of the operator is an optional Scope Scope (see Attribute Visibility), ValueType Value Type (see Value Types), and any parameters parameters (parms) it may take (see Functions (Parameter Passing)). On the right side is the expression that produces the result and optionally a colon (:) and a comma-delimited list of WorkflowServices (see Workflow Services). A definition must be explicitly terminated with a semi-colon (;). The Definition name can be used in subsequent definitions: MyFirstDefinition := 5; //defined as 5 MySecondDefinition := MyFirstDefinition + 5; //this is 10 Definition name Definition Name s begin with a letter and may contain only letters, numbers, or underscores (_). My_First_Definition1 := 5; // valid name My First Definition := 5; // INVALID name, spaces not allowed You may name a Definition with the name of a previously created module in the ECL Repository, if the attribute is defined with an explicit ValueType. ECL keywords ECL keywords , built-in functions and their options are reserved words Reserved Words , but they are generally reserved only in the context within which they are valid for use. Even in that context, you may use reserved words as field or attribute names, provided you explicitly disambiguate them, as in this example: ds2 := DEDUP(ds, ds.all, ALL); //ds.all is the 'all' field in the //ds dataset - not DEDUP’s ALL option However, it is still a good idea to avoid using ECL keywords as attribute or field names. Use descriptive names for all EXPORTed and SHARED Definitions. This will make your code more readable. The naming convention adopted throughout the ECL documentation and training courses is as follows: Definition Type Are Named Boolean Is... Set Definition Set... Record Set ...DatasetName For example: IsTrue := TRUE; // a BOOLEAN Definition SetNumbers := [1,2,3,4,5]; // a Set Definition R_People := People(firstname[1] = 'R'); // a Record Set Definition