Re^3: Hash vs constant vs package vs other for data structure

What are the advantages of the hash method?

Two that I can think of off the top of my head are that you can have sparse property sets (e.g. if one object has {foo=>1,bar=>2} and the other has {quz=>1,baz=>2}, whereas you'd need four array elements to cover that, a bit of a waste), and that textual serializations of the data would be self-documenting. But if neither of those are a concern to you, then at the moment I can't think of major disadvantages to using constants for the array indicies.

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Re^4: Hash vs constant vs package vs other for data structure by oldtechaa (Beadle) on Mar 27, 2017 at 19:46 UTC
I don't really need either of those, but I also would like to assign to slices, which would be difficult with a hash. I think I'll go with the constant method or uppercase variables probably.	[reply]
Re^5: Hash vs constant vs package vs other for data structure by Anonymous Monk on Mar 27, 2017 at 20:10 UTC
Constants set up with constant are inlined by the compiler (Constant Functions) and should be a little bit faster, and "safer" (no one can accidentally change your variables).	[reply]
Re^5: Hash vs constant vs package vs other for data structure by Anonymous Monk on Mar 27, 2017 at 20:24 UTC
I also would like to assign to slices, which would be difficult with a hash. It works: `$ perl -MData::Dump -e '@{$x[0][0]}{qw/a b/} = qw/c d/; dd \@x' [[{ a => "c", b => "d" }]]` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^6: Hash vs constant vs package vs other for data structure by oldtechaa (Beadle) on Mar 27, 2017 at 20:31 UTC
Seems almost more complicated than my initial problem.	[reply]
Re^5: Hash vs constant vs package vs other for data structure by BillKSmith (Monsignor) on Mar 27, 2017 at 21:54 UTC
When faced with a choice which makes little difference, choose one and use it consistently on all future projects. (This restriction may influence your choice.) Bill	[reply]