On Tue, Jan 15, 2002 at 08:51:06AM +0000, Piers Cawley wrote:
> > I don't understand. Why do we have to deal with them? Just translate
> > the Perl code in the BEGIN block to C <hand wave>, dump it and make
> > sure it gets run first. Right?
> >
> > I think I'm missing something very vital here.
>
> Let's see if I can come up with a simple counterexample that will show
> up the problem.
>
> #!perl
> my($compile_time, $start_time);
> BEGIN {$compile_time .= localtime(time)}
>
> # Later:
>
> print "Compiled at $compile_time\n";
> print "Started at $start_time\n";
>
> ...
>
> BEGIN {$start_time .= localtime(time)}
> __END__
>
> How do you intend to distinguish between those two BEGIN blocks, one
> of which must be run at script compile time, the other of which must
> be run at (for want of a better description) INIT time? And neither of
> which can be run twice (hence the .=).
Wouldn't both of those BEGIN blocks be run at compile-time? The only
ordering I'd see is that the first one declared (ie. $compile_time) is
run before the second (ie. $start_time).
> The only thing that can make that distinction is a human being. The
> compiler can probably guess that the two blocks should only be run
> once
Guess? Its a BEGIN block, it gets run once!
Ok, there's some really fundemental breakdown of understanding here,
and I think its me. Let's step back a second. Why is anything
guessing when and how many times BEGIN blocks are run?
Is B::C literally dumping out the total state of the interpreter after
compile-time, variables and everything?!
--
Michael G. Schwern <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.pobox.com/~schwern/
Perl Quality Assurance <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Kwalitee Is Job One
Paste is a waste if you're chaste,
but in this case dump a load
of goo and poo by the case in your face,
and place in your jawls like a juicy chaw,
but don't spit that shit and enjoy it all.
-- Ubergirl's beau
