Re^5: Perl::Improved Volume 0, Number 0

If indices start at 1, taking a slice till the end of an array can be written as:

The good solution for that imo would be to have the .. and ... operators as in ruby, that is, 3..8 means an inclusive range, but 3...8 means a range including 3 but not including 8.

Update: I say this because I've never seen any good example of using $#{} other than a range ending in it.

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Re^6: Perl::Improved Volume 0, Number 0 by hardburn (Abbot) on Aug 30, 2004 at 19:13 UTC
Better still, have `..` do some magic when unary to go right to the end of the array being indexed: `$a[ 5 .. ]; # Equivilent to $a[ 5 .. $#a ]` [download] Though I have no idea how hard that would be to add, or what compatibility issues come up. "There is no shame in being self-taught, only in not trying to learn in the first place." -- Atrus, Myst: The Book of D'ni.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^7: Perl::Improved Volume 0, Number 0 by Aristotle (Chancellor) on Aug 30, 2004 at 21:08 UTC
I may be mistaken (I have a hard time following all the developments and keeping the status quo straight), but to my knowledge, that's supposed to work Perl6. Makeshifts last the longest.	[reply]
Re^7: Perl::Improved Volume 0, Number 0 by ambrus (Abbot) on Aug 30, 2004 at 19:20 UTC
That would be difficult, because `5..$#a` is not always used in such a context (subscripting). It is used in other code like `@data[sort { $data[$a]<=>$data[$b] } 0..$#data]` where it would be difficult to derive the endpoint automatically. Btw I think perl6 will have infinite ranges, which is a good idea.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^8: Perl::Improved Volume 0, Number 0 by hardburn (Abbot) on Aug 30, 2004 at 19:25 UTC
Well, since the theoretical unary .. is already magical, you could just say that using it outside an array slice is a syntax error, just like it is now. Of course, you'll inevitably get newbies who ask why `@a = 1 .. ;` doesn't work, much how they see `while(<FH>)` now and expect `<FH>; $s = $_ . 'foo';` to work. "There is no shame in being self-taught, only in not trying to learn in the first place." -- Atrus, Myst: The Book of D'ni.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^8: Perl::Improved Volume 0, Number 0 by Roy Johnson (Monsignor) on Aug 30, 2004 at 19:32 UTC
This construct: `0..$#data` oughta be something like `@#data # all the indexes of @data, regardless of where your indexes start` Caution: Contents may have been coded under pressure.	[reply] [d/l] [select]