in reply to Re: Poor Perl Idioms Explained (except not really)
in thread Perl Idioms Explained - $|++

An old manager of mine saw $|++ in some of my code and requested i change it to $| = 1. I asked why and he replied that it's better to explicitly set something than to assume it is, say, zero. I know that $| defaults to 0, you know that $| defaults to 0 ... but what if someday the default for $| is instead 1?

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)
  • Comment on (jeffa) Re: Poor Perl Idioms Explained (except not really)

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Re^2: Poor Perl Idioms Explained (except not really)
by robin (Chaplain) on Oct 26, 2005 at 17:00 UTC
    what if someday the default for $| is instead 1?
    That's not the problem: 
    $ perl -le '$| = 1; $|++; print $|++'
1

    [download]
    The problem is that it might confuse someone who doesn't know about this particular piece of DWIMmery.

    Update: removed unfunny joke

[reply]
[d/l]
      Even more obvious: 
      $ perl -le '$| = 42; print $|;$|--;print $|'
1
0

      [download]
      So $|++ always sets it to true, and $|-- toggles it. Useful to know, but not obvious, and not consistent. But then DWIMmery is not necessarily consistent.

      -QM
      --
      Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]

      I can tell you didn't actually test this.

      Actually, i did test it. But you try telling contrary to a manager that won't listen to you. ;) Even if you show him such code. And no ... i don't work for him anymore. :)

      Anyways, the point was not what it is now, but what will it be if it changed sometime in the future.

      jeffa

      L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)
[reply]

In Section Meditations