in reply to Re^3: HoA create from array using map, more efficient?
in thread HoA create from array using map, more efficient?

I agree, one can always reach a point at which "sanity checking" exceeds "due diligence" and leads to insanity. But to get back to the case at hand, a relevant question for this thread is whether my addition to your map block (with the extra "nfg()" function call) shows a degree of error-checking zeal that costs more than it's worth.

I believe that depends on what is generating/transporting the input to the script, and how much the application cares about out-of-band behavior in the input. I've certainly seen situations where the extra work is needed, and others where it isn't. I tend to err more often on the side of applying some extra error checking and logging when it isn't needed, and less often the other way, because the latter is more troublesome when it happens.

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Re^5: HoA create from array using map, more efficient?
by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Jun 19, 2011 at 23:49 UTC
    I tend to err more often on the side of applying some extra error checking and logging when it isn't needed,

    This is going to sound supercilious, and there is nothing I can do about it.

    Don't err .. find out.

    The source of the OPs data is most likely this API. And the source of that API is whatever filesystem + metadata that underlies the Amazon EBS filesystem. Which AFAIK means, that unless you are party to some inside information, your (the OPs) only choice is to trust the results that API returns are uncorrupted; because you (he) simply do not have enough information to determine otherwise.

    So in this case, erring on the side of caution isn't "a sensible precaution", nor "being proactive"; nor "good methodology"; it is a complete waste of either your employer's or client's time, resource and money. And yours. Performing a test, because it is easy to do, despite the fact that you know it will only detect some minuscule percentage of the possible failures, all 3-sigma outliers to boot, serves only to slow things down for no statistically likely benefit.

    It is supplementing a belt made of kevlar, with braces made of overcooked spaghetti. Or betting an accumulator on two successive lotteries.

    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.
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