Re^7: RFC: Tool::Box

I was thinking about this. If I wanted to maintain a running average or running list of unique items (ordered or not) ... I'm probably designing my program around it. Therefore, setting some flag is probably ok with me. What would be wrong with:

use Tool::Box qw( :running_totals )
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That was, you provide normal functions as the default (with $ave returning undef or 0 in your example above). But, if someone wants the cool running-totals feature, they can turn it on.

Another possibility would be to provide Tool::Box and Tool::Box::Running_Total. *shrug* I'm just brainstorming here ...

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Comment on Re^7: RFC: Tool::Box Download Code

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Re^8: RFC: Tool::Box by diotalevi (Canon) on Nov 22, 2004 at 15:10 UTC
This is a horrible idea. This means I can't read `Tool::Box::func( LIST )` and can't know from reading the function name whether it returns the function-appropriate result or an accumulator function. It also means that once I've understood that I'm going to get an average (or whatever), that if I read the function name somewhere else, it doesn't necessarilly mean the same thing. The function in different modes must have different names. You're just making obfuscated code otherwise.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^8: RFC: Tool::Box by Limbic~Region (Chancellor) on Nov 22, 2004 at 14:56 UTC
dragonchild, I like this idea. Basically say there are three modes The subs work normally :default The subs return functions :functional Mix and match :hybrid Of course, there would be no need to specify :default. Then a note with :hybrid concerning unintentional behavior WRT empty lists. If you want both at the same time then you need to be prepared for unexpected results. Cheers - L~R	[reply]