Re: REALLY PERL ??

One technique I sometimes use to comment out a bunch of Perl lines is to put in some temporary POD directives. =Any header..lines...=cut Start the "=" in column 1. Perl figures that the included lines are "Plain Old Documentation" and Perl doesn't compile them. C has a multi-line comment syntax. Perl doesn't, but this is a good substitute.

I also recommend just moving an __END__ statement around in the code.

Everybody here has had some kind of syntax problem that at one time stumped them for awhile. This is a normal part of software development. I would argue to anybody who claims that has never happened: a) you are lying or b) you don't have enough experience.

I think just last week, I had a really bizarre looking error that I traced back to a ":" instead of a ";" at the end of a "use" statement. It didn't take long for me to figure out the problem. But yes, an error 20 lines later can and does happen. I've seen that in every HLL that I've used.

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Re^2: REALLY PERL ?? by kcott (Archbishop) on Aug 16, 2017 at 08:37 UTC
G'day Marshall, ++ They're all good techniques which I use too. I also sometimes add a temporary `exit` statement: often in a loop to see `print` debug statements for just one iteration. I almost always add something like `# TODO - debugging` [download] just before those things so that they're easy to subsequently find and remove. My normal syntax highlighting displays the commented "TODO" in a horribly contrasting magenta on blue so it's really hard to miss; even without that, it's easy to just search the text for. "... a really bizarre looking error that I traced back to a ":" instead of a ";" at the end ..." Unfortunately, that's one mistake I make far too often. It was very difficult to track down when I first used to make it. I now recognise it as just something I do when not releasing the Shift key quickly enough: `$result = function(...): $hashref = { ... }: $string = "...":` [download] It's easy to miss when just reviewing the code because ":" and ";" look very similar; at least now it's easy to find and fix when I get a syntax error reported. — Ken	[reply] [d/l] [select]

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Re^2: REALLY PERL ??
by kcott (Archbishop) on Aug 16, 2017 at 08:37 UTC

G'day Marshall,

++ They're all good techniques which I use too. I also sometimes add a temporary exit statement: often in a loop to see print debug statements for just one iteration.

I almost always add something like

# TODO - debugging
[download]

just before those things so that they're easy to subsequently find and remove. My normal syntax highlighting displays the commented "TODO" in a horribly contrasting magenta on blue so it's really hard to miss; even without that, it's easy to just search the text for.

"... a really bizarre looking error that I traced back to a ":" instead of a ";" at the end ..."

Unfortunately, that's one mistake I make far too often. It was very difficult to track down when I first used to make it. I now recognise it as just something I do when not releasing the Shift key quickly enough:

$result = function(...):
$hashref = { ... }:
$string = "...":
[download]

It's easy to miss when just reviewing the code because ":" and ";" look very similar; at least now it's easy to find and fix when I get a syntax error reported.

— Ken

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