Re: RFC 212 (v1) Make length(@array) work

[Dave Storrs]

On Wed, 13 Sep 2000, Hildo Biersma wrote:

> > =head1 TITLE
> > 
> > Make length(@array) work
> 
> Counter-proposal: make length(@array) a syntax error. I don't feel like
> rewarding stupidity, I'd rather teach people how to do things properly.


        As a general rule, I agree with Hildo that we shouldn't reward
stupidity. However, the beautiful thing about Perl, the thing that makes
me prefer it over every other language on the planet, is that it generally
DWIMs.  For the most part, the natural, intuitive thing works (ok, first
you have to wrap your head around context and a few other bits of
weirdness, but THEN it's intuitive).

        So I ask...if many newbies do this, and not all of them are stupid
(a very safe statement, statistically), then perhaps this is simply an
example of "the intuitive way to do it" and we should make it work?

                                Dave