Could it be that you and Anonymous Monk made the same mistake as I did initially of reading the example as if age() was meant as a read-only function?

As I understand the example, age() is a write-only(!) function, you set the time you want to stow away the cheese in a dark cellar (or you simply stow away the cheese a predetermined time). The following sentence in the book makes that quite clear I think. So 'ascertain' would be exactly the wrong meaning, suggesting reading of a stored value.

If I'm right, you made my point ;-). And in any case thanks for the compliment.

PS: If I'm right, the second age() call in the example following the cheese paragraph should have a parameter of "6", "6m" or "6 months"


In reply to Re^3: Modern Perl: The Book: The Draft by jethro
in thread Modern Perl: The Book: The Draft by chromatic

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