in reply to Re: disappearing segfault
in thread disappearing segfault

Because building secret magic into your program is sloppy, and could easily bite him in the rear in time.

Quick example: he adds the print statement. Someone inherits the code. They do some clean-up, kill the print statement. Boom, code segfaults for no apparent reason.

It's just a bad idea to paper over potentially (and in this case, ACTUALLY) fatal, hard-to-trace errors instead of fixing them.

for(split(" ","tsuJ rehtonA lreP rekcaH")){print reverse . " "}print "\b.\n";

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^3: disappearing segfault
by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Mar 11, 2009 at 06:08 UTC

    1. Why does it have to be "secret"? This would be a perfect example of when to legitimately use that mercilessly overused construct: a source code comment.
    2. Calm your indignation and try to think laterally. What other purposee might my suggestion serve?
    Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
    "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
    In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
[reply]
[d/l]

      1. Comment not previously mentioned, or, I would think, safely assumed. Magic is secret until proven otherwise ;-)

      2. In the future, please warn other monks that they're entering a socratic dialogue zone, wherein the reasonable assumption that people mean what they say isn't valid. Otherwise, you're basically baiting a rhetorical trap with flawed arguments, then declaiming as unsophisticated those who take them in the spirit that custom and logic suggests be the default reading.

      Maybe just a line reading: "Socrates sez," or an ASCII graphic of Admiral Ackbar.

      To make sure I'm being perfectly clear: I'm not (nor ever really was) indignant at you for either the first comment or this one; I just think that, intentionally or no, you're basically lecturing people for taking your statements in good faith, who have no reason to do otherwise.

      for(split(" ","tsuJ rehtonA lreP rekcaH")){print reverse . " "}print "\b.\n";
[reply]
[d/l]

        I'm sorry, but questions of the form: "If X, then why not just Y" are far from "Socratic". They are an invitation to open a dialogue--with the OP.

        As for lecturing ...

        Because building secret magic into your program is sloppy, and could easily bite him in the rear in time.
        Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
        "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
        In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
[reply]

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom