Re^9: Is $^M a leftover April Fool?

How many scripts use the dbmopen function? You can point to at least half the features in Perl and realize that less than 1% of all scripts in existence directly use that code. In many cases, probably much less than that.

Granted, $^M is a very obscure and esoteric feature, but so is dbmopen ...

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Comment on Re^9: Is $^M a leftover April Fool?

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Re^10: Is $^M a leftover April Fool? by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Jan 07, 2005 at 13:56 UTC
This is all getting way academic now, but if your estimate of those that use dbmopen is anything like correct, that's 1 in 100. Whereas if my guesses for $^M are anything like correct, we are talking 1 in 100,000 to 1 in 100,000,000. Even if every programmer added a $^M reserve to every script they ever wrote, your still only looking at 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 10,000,000. Another difference is that dbmopen has been superceded. Before tie and all modules that use it became available, I think dbmopen was probably a lot more used. If you count the number of programs that use some form of tie, or tie-based module, your 1% is probably an under-estimate. Tie::File alone could probably manage 1%. Nothing has superceded $^M. Examine what is said, not who speaks. Silence betokens consent. Love the truth but pardon error.	[reply]

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Re^10: Is $^M a leftover April Fool?
by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Jan 07, 2005 at 13:56 UTC

This is all getting way academic now, but if your estimate of those that use dbmopen is anything like correct, that's 1 in 100.

Whereas if my guesses for $^M are anything like correct, we are talking 1 in 100,000 to 1 in 100,000,000.

Even if every programmer added a $^M reserve to every script they ever wrote, your still only looking at 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 10,000,000.

Another difference is that dbmopen has been superceded. Before tie and all modules that use it became available, I think dbmopen was probably a lot more used. If you count the number of programs that use some form of tie, or tie-based module, your 1% is probably an under-estimate. Tie::File alone could probably manage 1%.

Nothing has superceded $^M.

Examine what is said, not who speaks.

Silence betokens consent.

Love the truth but pardon error.

[reply]