BASH_ARGC and BASH_ARGV are empty

[nsushkin]

Configuration Information [Automatically generated, do not change]:
Machine: i386
OS: linux-gnu
Compiler: i386-redhat-linux-gcc
Compilation CFLAGS:  -DPROGRAM='bash' -DCONF_HOSTTYPE='i386' 
-DCONF_OSTYPE='linux-gnu' -DCONF_MACHTYPE='i386-redhat-linux-gnu' 
-DCONF_VENDOR='redhat' -DLOCALEDIR='/usr/share/locale' -DPACKAGE='bash' -DSHELL 
-DHAVE_CONFIG_H  -I.  -I. -I./include -I./lib  -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -O2 -g 
-pipe -m32 -march=i386 -mtune=pentium4
uname output: Linux nypagt01.openfinance.com 2.6.9-1.667smp #1 SMP Tue Nov 2 
14:59:52 EST 2004 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
Machine Type: i386-redhat-linux-gnu

Bash Version: 3.0
Patch Level: 14
Release Status: release

Description:
I am trying to get the values of BASH_ARGC and BASH_ARGV, but they
seem to be empty? Is it a bug, feature, my misunderstanding, or a 
configuration issue.

Repeat-By:
Run the following script:

---------------CUT HERE----------------
function a
{
    echo "a args: $@"
    b calling function b
}
function b
{
    echo "b args: $@"
    set|grep ARG;
#    for ((i=0 ; $i < ${#FUNCNAME[@]} ; i++))
#    do
#        printf "%s[%s](" "${FUNCNAME[$i]}" "${BASH_ARGC[$i]}";
#        printf "%s)\n" "${BASH_ARGV[*]}";
#    done
}

a calling function a
---------------CUT HERE----------------

And the output I get is

BASH_ARGC=()
BASH_ARGV=()
    set | grep ARG


Shouldn't BASH_ARGC be something like ([0]=>3, [1]=>3)
and BASH_ARGV contain words "calling function b calling function a"?
FUNCNAME correctly returns "b a"

Thanks