RE: Unary dot

[David Whipp]

Melvin Smith wrote
> I think that would be just plain bad design, but I'd be happy 
> if someone showed me a use for it. :)

well, I've been known to do

  sub UNIVERSAL::debug
  {
    my $self = shift;
    my $msg = "@_";
    eval {$self=$self->name} if ref($self);
    my $timestamp = ...;
    my $caller = ...;
    print "DEBUG [$timestamp] '$self' $caller: $msg\n";
  }

  sub UNIVERSAL::debugf { shift->debug(sprintf @_) }

which can then be called as:

  $class->debug("hello");

or

  $self->debugf("world, %d", 42);

or even

  hello->debug(world);


You are right. This is just plain bad design. But it can be useful.


Dave.