I´m currently reading The MEL Companion. very good lecture! but -

is it possible, since the book was published in 2003 that some of the scripting language has changed? cause not even one of the examples.mel work correctly with maya 7.


global proc generateGrass()

{
//Creation of Poly Cone
string $blades[] = `polyCone -r .04 -h 1 -sx 3 -sy 10 -sz 0 -ax 0 1 0 -tx 1 -ch 0`;

//bring the bottom of the cone to groundlevel
setAttr ($blades[0] + ".translateY") 0.5 ;

}

// till here it´s working ------------

// harden the edges of cone
polySoftEdge
-angle 30
-constructionHistory off
( $blades[0] + ".e[0:59]" )
;


line 22.19: "$blades" is an undeclared variable. //



why is $blades[] in the second place a undeclared variable? and if there is a reasonable say syntax error or something, why is this provided by the book in exactly such way?

would be happy if someone could help me out.