Re^3: why does push not default to $

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Re^4: why does push not default to $_? by LanX (Saint) on Dec 06, 2008 at 02:43 UTC
> Then Perl isn't your forte. Perl was designed with the human mind and natural languages in mind - neither of which are consistent or orthogonal. sorry thats a cheap argument. A natural language is not neccesarily inconsistent. Maybe you think this because your an English speaker, but I know plenty of languages which are far more consistent and orthogonal than English. And if you read the whole thread, you will see that the behaviour of push depends on the prototype interface, which is surely not modelled after a human language! Cheers Rolf	[reply]
Re^5: why does push not default to $_? by pobocks (Chaplain) on Dec 06, 2008 at 23:36 UTC
Even fairly regular natural languages (Latin, for instance) tend to have large numbers of irregularities, tending to cluster around the most commonly used words/concepts. English is, of course, a particularly non-standardized language, but it is, as the poster suggests, modeled after English. Specifically, the "default to '$_'/'@_'" functionality is modeled after default pronouns in English, and is certainly a key concern of this thread. The "then perl isn't your forte" was kind of a cheap shot, though. I'm not sure how non-orthogonal it is for a built-in to choose not to default to $_, especially given that most of the built-ins that do default are unary, to my knowledge. `for(split(" ","tsuJ rehtonA lreP rekcaH")){print reverse . " "}print "\b.\n";`	[reply] [d/l]
Re^6: why does push not default to $_? by LanX (Saint) on Dec 07, 2008 at 02:58 UTC
Specifically, the "default to '$_'/'@_'" functionality is modeled after default pronouns in English, and is certainly a key concern of this thread. sorry, maybe it's trivial, but what is the default pronoun in English? Cheers Rolf	[reply]
Re^7: why does push not default to $_? by Lawliet (Curate) on Dec 07, 2008 at 04:03 UTC
Re^8: why does push not default to $_? by ikegami (Patriarch) on Dec 07, 2008 at 13:05 UTC
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Re^7: why does push not default to $_? by pobocks (Chaplain) on Dec 08, 2008 at 04:37 UTC
Re^5: why does push not default to $_? by JavaFan (Canon) on Dec 06, 2008 at 17:27 UTC
Maybe you think this because your an English speaker, but I know plenty of languages which are far more consistent and orthogonal than English. Well, I'm not a native English speaker, but Larry Wall certainly is. And if any particular natural language was used to model Perl after, it was English, and not a more consistent and orthogonal language.	[reply]
Re^6: why does push not default to $_? by LanX (Saint) on Dec 06, 2008 at 19:29 UTC
look at the specs for perl6, it looks far more consistent than perl5, without loosing perl's "natural" features. Discussing the design decissions is certainly not for vain! Cheers Rolf	[reply]