On Tue, Oct 16, 2001 at 08:31:31PM -0700, David Whipp wrote:
> > Is chomp? just a bad example, or is there some utility in asking if a
> > string has already been chomped?
>
> The query is asking what the string would look like, if it were chomped.
That's a weird use of a query method. In fact, that sounds like a
normal method call. Applied to some other situations:
# "What would @list look like if it were sorted"
@sorted_list = @list.sort?
# "What would this filehandle look like if it were open"
$open_fh = $fh.open?
I expect query methods to be simple yes/no questions that return
true/false. @list.sort? should return whether or not the @list were
sorted (not that this is particularly useful) and $fh.open? to tell me
if the filehandle is open or not.
I think the function/method distinction is a better seperation between
"what would this thing look like if it were acted on" and "act on this
thing".
# What would this look like if it were sorted?
@sorted_list = sort @list;
# Sort this list
@list.sort
--
Michael G. Schwern <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.pobox.com/~schwern/
Perl6 Quality Assurance <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Kwalitee Is Job One
Me? A robot? That's rediculous! For one thing, that doesn't compute at all!