http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=136559


in reply to Stop reinventing the wheel! (was Re: Directory Recursion)
in thread Directory Recursion

I think the author made it clear that this wasn't a File::Find replacement here:

There is a very notable module that helps with this task, and that is File::Find. While this is an incredibly useful module, this tutorial is designed to give you a basic understanding of recursion in Perl, and should hopefully be beneficial to you for more than just file and directory processing (though that will be the focus).

He seems to be pitching this as a learning exercise. Your node pointing out some bugs adds to the learning experience.

Perhaps it should be made more clear that it isn't production usable code, but...

Lighten up. ( /me braces for the -- onslaught :)

Update: I agree with merlyn in general, but I think a gentle suggestion that the author update the node with mention of the bugs and fixes would work just fine. Perhaps it would be even more helpful for a beginner to learn from someone else's common mistakes ? After all, this is a forum.

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Re: Re: Stop reinventing the wheel! (was Re: Directory Recursion)
by merlyn (Sage) on Jan 05, 2002 at 21:45 UTC
    The problem is that I consider it unethical to teach something without knowing it well enough not to introduce well-known bugs. It's just bad for the community at large to propogate bad memes under the banner of "helping", because it doesn't help, it hurts.

    It's the equivalent to spreading rumors that could harm someone else's reputation without first verifying them from an independent source, which I also consider to be unethical. Why do you think newspapers have such strict rules on "fact checking"?

    -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker

    update: in response to
    Update: I agree with merlyn in general, but I think a gentle suggestion that the author update the node with mention of the bugs and fixes would work just fine. Perhaps it would be even more helpful for a beginner to learn from someone else's common mistakes ? After all, this is a forum.
    I would have no problem if the original node had been posted "in quotes", as in "I'm thinking of writing a tutorial, can someone review the following draft before I publish it...". But that wasn't done. It was posted as a done deal, and thus pushed my hotbutton.
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In Section Tutorials