On Fri, 17 Dec 2004, Jonathan Paton wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 09:17:05 -0500 (EST), Chris Devers wrote:
>
> And what programming language were you learning?
C/C++, Java, Visual Basic, Cobol.
> In some other languages, like C, C++ and Java you must specify the
> exact type of each variable. This information is useful to gather in
> to one place, out of the way of the actual code.
>
> In perl, you have signals ($%@&* etc) to specify the type, and my to
> declare that it is a new lexical variable. You don't have to specify
> if you have a char etc.
I always thought of grouping typing as incidental to the real point of
pre-declaring variables. The real point, it seemed to me, was built in
to the phrase "data dictionary": it's a segment of code that maps out
what pieces of information the following section of code will deal with.
> Also in perl, each block is a new lexical scope - where all is fair to
> introduce new variables. E.g.
>
> for my $index (0 .. $last_index) {
> my $computed = ...;
>
> ...
> }
>
> where $index and $computed wouldn't exist outside of the loop. This
> is easier to read than:
>
> my $index;
> my $computed;
>
> for $index (0 .. $last_index) {
> $computed = ...;
>
> ...
> }
>
> Where $index and $computed live on, but may never be used again.
*shrug*
I see little readibility difference there.
> Generally, fewer lines of code are easier to manage.
Well, of course. But sometimes spelling things out can be useful too.
--
Chris Devers
--
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
<http://learn.perl.org/> <http://learn.perl.org/first-response>
