in reply to CPAN Module Evaluation Red-Flags

A number of examples have mentioned poor documentation, but the complete absence of documentation is far worse (four examples from today. If you can't even be bothered writing a README, why bother uploading? You only get one chance to make a first impression after all.

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Re: Re: CPAN Module Evaluation Red-Flags
by hardburn (Abbot) on Jul 28, 2003 at 13:41 UTC

    IMHO, the first impression people get of your module will be from the POD doc on one of the CPAN search sites (search. or kobesearch., take your pick). I usually don't bother to even look at the README, as in my experiance, most module authors only cut-and-paste what they put in their NAME and DESCRIPTION sections of their POD, plus a little installation note (which usually ends up being identical to every other module on CPAN).

    ----
    I wanted to explore how Perl's closures can be manipulated, and ended up creating an object system by accident.
    -- Schemer

    Note: All code is untested, unless otherwise stated

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      I couldn't agree more. So when a module includes no POD and doesn't event include a README (like the ones cited), then you'd need to be fairly dedicated to carry on and work out what it's for.

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