in reply to Re: A new idiom -or- I Hate Unless
in thread A new idiom -or- I Hate Unless

The main reason for my dislike is the puzzlement factor that a newcomer to Perl will have when encountering the statement.

Why should that be a concern? Do you use sequential alphanumeric identifiers for variables and subroutines to avoid the puzzlement that newcomers to English will have when encountering idiomatic words?

I agree with you about avoiding unless {} else {}, but that's because it's confusing to native English speakers as well. I don't believe that avoiding idioms -- where they'd otherwise be appropraite -- in deference to hypothetical unexperienced maintenance programmers is a good idea.

Update: I misread the parent post the first time, with which I agree. Sorry about that.

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Re^3: A new idiom -or- I Hate Unless
by kappa (Chaplain) on Aug 23, 2004 at 12:52 UTC
    I agree with you about avoiding unless {} else {}, but that's because it's confusing to native English speakers as well.
    Is it? I'm not native (Russian) and the whole concept of unless is alien to me. But I got over it, and even got used to it and even became fond of it (due to Perl) :) Never thought that unless {} else {} does not look like real English. Thanks for education!
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      I think the 'else' following an 'unless' in english is often spelled 'otherwise'. As in, 

      unless its raining i will go to the swimming pool, otherwise ill watch
+ a movie.

      [download]

      'else' in the context wouldn't be wrong, but it wouldnt be particularly idiomatic.

      All IMO of course.


      ---
      demerphq

        First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
        -- Gandhi
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