Re^2: counting number of occurrences of words in a file

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^3: counting number of occurrences of words in a file (use strict) by toolic (Bishop) on Aug 11, 2010 at 19:17 UTC
why I don't use strict, there is none. I just don't like it. Just do it. In most cases, all it means is that you have to type only 3 extra characters (m-y-space) before you declare a variable. After you start doing this, it becomes muscle memory. Don't make me dedicate a poem to you :)	[reply]
Re^3: counting number of occurrences of words in a file by ssandv (Hermit) on Aug 11, 2010 at 19:41 UTC
Most monks "just don't like" helping people who don't `use strict`. When you ask for advice, and don't take it when it's given, people remember that. Beginners are the ones who generally benefit the most from `strict`. You are unambiguously making a mistake, and making it harder for people to help you. It's not a matter of taste.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: counting number of occurrences of words in a file by kennethk (Abbot) on Aug 11, 2010 at 19:08 UTC
I would strongly urge you to reconsider your position. strict's greatest benefits in my experience come from catching typos during initial code development, and will help make issues like Variable scoping more clear in your mind. Give Use strict warnings and diagnostics or die a read and see if you don't change your mind. I always use it for any script that's more than a dozen lines.	[reply]
Re^3: counting number of occurrences of words in a file by ww (Archbishop) on Aug 11, 2010 at 20:20 UTC
Re `use strict;`, you said: "since I am a mere beginner and I prefer to add it in after I have finished and tested my program." To me, and (I strongly suspect) to many other Monks, this is evidence that you don't understand the purpose or benefits of invoking the pragma. Rather than an (add-in\|\|nice-to-have\|\|safety valve), `strict` exists in large measure to help you get your program "right" whilst finishing and testing (and anything else). If you start coding with `strict` in use, perl will provide valuable information about any errors anytime you look for them.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: counting number of occurrences of words in a file by graff (Chancellor) on Aug 12, 2010 at 02:11 UTC
And in case the replies above haven't convinced you... I've been using perl for 15 years; I've been including "use strict" for more than half of that time. Adding it to my normal habit has made me a better programmer, because it causes me to think about the constraints it imposes while I am writing code (especially the required scope for variables). And as mentioned above, it also makes it easier and quicker to get my code to work as intended, because it catches mistakes that might otherwise be hard to spot. The only time I don't use it is when I am doing spontaneous one-liners at the shell command line, because in that situation, compactness carries greater value, and the code I need is relatively short and simple (requiring few if any variables). But every script that I store as a file has "use strict" in it.	[reply]