Hi GrandFather,

The reason I added the explanation of $cell or next; to my post was because I first saw the output of B::Deparse, so perhaps the narrative of my post would have been better that way around - "here's what B::Deparse gives you, and here's what it means".

Personally, I find $cell or next; is short enough to be readable in all three variations (next unless $cell;, next if !$cell;), and if I was writing it I'd lean towards next unless $cell;. If either side of the or had been more complex or becomes more complex later, then I might agree with you. As for the general case of if/unless vs. and/or, I write it however I find most readable. For example, sometimes I find $cond or die "some long error message" better than die "some long error message" unless $cond, even if the latter is wrapped on two lines. Or, I've recently found myself writing $DEBUG and print "..." more often, I find it helps me skip over those lines quicker when I'm skimming the code. On the other hand, if the condition is more complex, I'd start considering maintenance costs (usually precedence issues creeping in), and I'd probably switch over to the "safe" if (...) {...}. And it's a matter of TIMTOWTDI and taste too, I guess :-)

Regards,
-- Hauke D

Update: Fixed one of the code samples.