Re^2: grep for hash?

I was surprised that this not only works, but also does not complain if strictures are added to the code.

The code looks ingenious, but I wonder about two aspects: First, you are accessing a list one time as a hash via %NAME, and then the same list as an array, via @NAME. Is this considered accepted practice? Honestly, I hadn't expected it to work with lexically scoped variables, and I'm not sure whether this trick (if I can call it like this) will remain with later Perl versions.

A more serious problem is the line

@new{ @keys } = @orig{ @keys = grep /[adf]/, keys %orig };
[download]

where you rely on the fact that @keys gets its value first (from the grep) before it is used to form a slice for @new. I think this is undefined behaviour, isn't it?

--
Ronald Fischer <ynnor@mm.st>

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Re^3: grep for hash?
by Fletch (Bishop) on Jul 07, 2009 at 15:25 UTC

All of the references are to the hashes %new and %old; the leading @ and curlies is just the way you name slices. The only array involved in the whole thing is @keys.

As for relying on the ordering, I think it's pretty safe to count that the rvalue will be computed and available before the lvalue is populated with it.

The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.

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Re^4: grep for hash?

by ikegami (Patriarch) on Jul 07, 2009 at 15:50 UTC

I think it's pretty safe to count that the rvalue will be computed and available before the lvalue is populated with it.

In general, no. The container can be placed on the stack before the value it will receive. The assignment only occurs after both the value and the container are on the stack.

In Perl, operands are always evaluated from left to right, except the operands for assignment operators are always evaluated from right to left. But that's not documented.

	Given	Disinguishes these Interpretations
Operator Precedence	`1+2*3`	`(1+2)3` -vs- `1+(23)`
Operator Associativity	`234`	`(23)4` -vs- `2(34)`
Operand Evaluation Order	`foo()+bar()`	`foo() -> bar() -> add` -vs- `bar() -> foo() -> add`

Update: I foresaw confusion between operator associativity and operand evaluation order, so I added the table.

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Re^5: grep for hash?

by Fletch (Bishop) on Jul 07, 2009 at 16:34 UTC

It's not explicitly documented but it's stated in perlsyn that the assignment operator works "as in C", and it has the same right-to-left associativity as C's, and the value of the assignment is itself a valid rvalue for another subsequent assignment. Granted it's not chiseled into stone tablets, but I don't think that it's a "ZOMGWTFBBQ no one knows what'll happen just don't do that" case like ++$a + $a++ is.

That being said, your alternative with the separate assignment before use is definitely a clearer implementation.

The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.

[reply]
[d/l]

Re^6: grep for hash?

by ikegami (Patriarch) on Jul 07, 2009 at 16:38 UTC

Re^7: grep for hash?

by Fletch (Bishop) on Jul 07, 2009 at 16:54 UTC


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