On Fri, Oct 12, 2018 at 6:08 AM Todd Chester via perl6-users < perl6-users@perl.org> wrote:
> > If nothing is being returned, it should really be indicated with --> Nil > > since that can enable certain optimizations. Similarly, if a routine > always > > returns true upon success, that can be indicated with --> True. > > Am I interpreting Larry correctly? Should every definition line > always have a --> at the end? > Adding it gives more information to the consumers of that routine, the people reading it, the compiler optimizing use of the routine, and the runtime execution which will validate the return and throw an exception for you if it is wrong. (There is a tiny, tiny bit of runtime overtime to do that check. Optimization could easily offset or overwhelm that overhead.) Like many things in Perl, you are free to add the extra stuff if you want to take advantage of that, but also free to leave it out if you don't feel like it. The language supports many different levels of formality you get to choose from. For "quick and dirty" programming, go ahead and leave them out if you want. Curt
