in reply to Never lock $0 inside of a BEGIN block

This example here would have been much easier to figure out if it showed the last line, or the line where the quote began.

Two things: it's not feasable to determine where a quote is missing, and hence where the unterminated string begins. However, in many occasions, perl manages to make an educated guess that's often quite right.

Furthermore, I completely disagree with your statement Perl has miserable error messages. Perl errors seldom baffle me, and usually it's immediate clear where the problem is. In cases where it's not clear, it's almost always me not spotting the error instead of perl being wrong.

Abigail

  • Comment on Re: Never lock $0 inside of a BEGIN block

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: Never lock $0 inside of a BEGIN block
by demerphq (Chancellor) on May 21, 2003 at 20:51 UTC

    Furthermore, I completely disagree with your statement Perl has miserable error messages.

    Blush. Im sorry. Misserable is much stronger than I would have said if it werent for the bizarreness of this scenario.

    it's not feasable to determine where a quote is missing, and hence where the unterminated string begins. However, in many occasions, perl manages to make an educated guess that's often quite right.

    Why isnt it possible to determine where the quoted string began? Why does it have to "guess"?


    ---
    demerphq

    <Elian> And I do take a kind of perverse pleasure in having an OO assembly language...
[reply]
[d/l]
      Misserable is much stronger than I would have said if it werent for the bizarreness of this scenario.

      Well, you were generalizing. The following remark isn't limiting itself to a specific scenario:

      On a bit of a grumble side, IMO one of Perls biggest weaknesses is its absolutely terrible error reporting. The messages are usually misleading and often just plain old wrong.

      Why isnt it possible to determine where the quoted string began? Why does it have to "guess"?
      Because in most cases, a program consists of more than one string. Say you have 20 double quoted strings in your program, and you forget to close one of them. So, Perl sees 49 quotes. How's perl to know which 20 of them start a string, if it cannot assume the sequence is "start string", "end string"? After all, strings can contain newlines.

      Abigail

[reply]

        Say you have 20 double quoted strings...So, Perl sees 49 quotes.

        No wonder the poor thing is confused:)

        Examine what is said, not who speaks.
        "Efficiency is intelligent laziness." -David Dunham
        "When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong." -Richard Buckminster Fuller
[reply]

In Section Meditations