Mobious Monks,

Simple style question.

I have a count variable that is to be set depending on a condition:

if ($some_variable eq 'x') {
   $count = 14;
}
else {
   $count = 9;
}
for $i (0 .. $count) {
   do some stuff
}
[download]

Wherein '$some_variable' can have the values 'x' and 'y' only.
Coding the actual values right there in the conditonal effectively buries that way down in the bowels of a long program, but uses the minimum lines of code and is highly readbable once you find that snippet.

Setting two value holders at the top of the script make for easier maintenance when the values need to be changed some day:

#constant declaration area at top of script
$value_1 = 14;
$value_2 = 9;

...many lines of code later...

if ($some_variable eq 'x') {
   $count = $value_1;
}
else {
   $count = $value_2;
}
for $i (0 .. $count) {
   do some stuff
}
[download]

but it creates double referencing and extra lines of code.

A third way would be to declare a hash:

#constant declaration area at top of script
$count{'x'} = 14;
$count{'y'} = 9;

...many lines of code later...

for $i (0 .. $count{$some_variable}) {
   do some stuff
}
[download]

Any feelings on which is preferable from a coding style and/or efficiency point of view?

---

In reply to Style: buried variables or double referencing? by punch_card_don

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