Actually, this "Final expression is return value" is IMO a mistake of perl. The final expression should only mean a return value iff it's not followed by a semicolon.

That can only be done in free-form languages (where a newline doesn't mean end of the command, like perl or C but unlike awk or ruby or python). That way, you wouldn't have to add return (or undef) statements just to make a function void.

Yes, there's already one such language: Mathematica treats semicolon as an operator that just returns its second argument (like scalar comma in perl, comma operator in C, begin in scheme). It's a function like any operator in Mathematica (well, any but one, @@@), it's called CompoundExpression. When it is used without second argument (that is, when you just put a semicolon after an expression) the second argument is implicitly Null.

Update: fixed a typo.

In reply to Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Want a Hashref. Getting a List in Scalar Context. by ambrus
in thread Want a Hashref. Getting a List in Scalar Context. by hardburn

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