That invalidates your wasted space comment.

I'm not sure it does. Effectively what you pointed out is that every sub has a hash entry (in the/a symbol table) that is built by the compiler. Using a programmer defined/constructed hash for dispatching is therefore duplicating these entries.

It also means that the runtime overhead for looking-up and executing a sub is duplicated.

Last but not least, the programmer defined hash table has to be maintained manually as new actions are added, old ones deleted or names are changed. Using SymRefs this is all taken care of by the compiler which has to appeal to some degree to the lazy programmer:^)

Don't misunderstand me, prior to this thread I would have considered myself firmly on the 'No SymRefs--use a hash' side of the argument. Currently I would declare myself as undecided. I am sure there are good counter arguments besides the obvious "so it takes a little more space and a little more time, it's safer", I just haven't seen one yet.

Your scoping argument has some merit, but given the nature of the OP's application, it's unlikely that the number or nature of the dispatch table is likely to change radically during any given run of the program.

I can see how the application could evolve to the point where it required new actions to be created on the fly, but that's equally possible with either method, after all that's essentially what AUTOLOAD does isn't it?

It's definately an interesting debate.

Examine what is said, not who speaks.

The 7th Rule of perl club is -- pearl clubs are easily damaged. Use a diamond club instead.

In reply to Re: Re^5: Naming Subs by BrowserUk
in thread Naming Subs by eoin

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.