Re^6: Newline's creep in, while using Tie::File

Can you honestly say you've never fat fingered a variable name or misremembered what you called a variable?

Of course not...that's a normal part of coding isn't it regardless of the technology.

The reason I have never added use strict; is not because of any ideological view. It is because when I learnt to use Perl in the early 1990's I did so out of necessity and by looking at a very limited pool of other people's code which either didn't include strictures or, if it did I didn't notice and found my code worked without it. Back then I didn't have internet access at home so couldn't look things up to learn best practice.

I have experimented with turning on use strict; and got frustrated at having to declare variables before use so ended up not bothering. It sort of slowed down the initial code development although, granted, it may well have speeded things up down the line had I persevered.

The reason I ask is because I have many, many lines of working Perl code in production and I know it would be beneficial for me to up my coding game. Not least because coding is not core to my business and it would make sense for me to employ a developer soon(ish). Improving how I code going forward and improving existing code will have to be part of that process.

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Re^7: Newlines creep in, while using Tie::File by hippo (Bishop) on Nov 17, 2020 at 12:04 UTC
when I learnt to use Perl in the early 1990's I did so out of necessity and by looking at a very limited pool of other people's code which either didn't include strictures or, if it did I didn't notice That will be because it didn't exist in the language back then. I think it was around 5.002 when it was introduced. I have experimented with turning on `use strict;` and got frustrated at having to declare variables before use so ended up not bothering. It sort of slowed down the initial code development although, granted, it may well have speeded things up down the line had I persevered. I don't see why it would slow down initial code development at all. Could you explain more? FWIW, here is one of my recent nodes showing the benefit. And another one. 🦛	[reply] [d/l]
Re^8: Newlines creep in, while using Tie::File by tobyink (Canon) on Nov 17, 2020 at 13:11 UTC
strict.pm was first included in Perl 5.0. warnings.pm came in 5.6. toby döt ink	[reply]
Re^9: Newlines creep in, while using Tie::File by Bod (Parson) on Nov 17, 2020 at 14:29 UTC
I'm still using ancient Perl but not that ancient... I'm using 5.16.003 dating from 2012 unfortunately	[reply]
Re^10: Newlines creep in, while using Tie::File by tobyink (Canon) on Nov 17, 2020 at 17:05 UTC
Re^11: Newlines creep in, while using Tie::File by Bod (Parson) on Nov 17, 2020 at 18:59 UTC
Some notes below your chosen depth have not been shown here
Re^7: Newline's creep in, while using Tie::File by marto (Cardinal) on Nov 17, 2020 at 11:42 UTC
"It sort of slowed down the initial code development" How much time did you save by not typing `my`, and how much time has been spent finding problems caused by a typo in a variable name?	[reply] [d/l]
Re^8: Newline's creep in, while using Tie::File by stevieb (Canon) on Nov 17, 2020 at 16:15 UTC
"How much time did you save by not typing my, and how much time has been spent finding problems caused by a typo in a variable name?" ^ That. I have typed out `use strict;` at least several hundred thousand times over my 20 years writing Perl, and if it saved me even just 10 minutes troubleshooting why a variable is being clobbered, or why a variable isn't updated as expected, I feel my efforts were worth it. Also, by forcing you to declare all variables, it makes it far easier at a glance to see where variables are designed to be scoped. Without declaration, it's hard to tell whether a variable is global or not without having to scroll through code. That's even more time saved.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^8: Newline's creep in, while using Tie::File by Bod (Parson) on Nov 17, 2020 at 19:37 UTC
Of course, it is impossible to know how much time time I would have saved debugging had I used `use strict;` but I am convinced of the wisdom going forward...	[reply] [d/l]
Re^7: Newline's creep in, while using Tie::File by Anonymous Monk on Nov 17, 2020 at 15:16 UTC
I have experimented with turning on use strict; and got frustrated at having to declare variables before use so ended up not bothering. It sort of slowed down the initial code development although, granted, it may well have speeded things up down the line had I persevered. I used to feel the same way. It's true that not having to think about variable scope or initialization seems easier and faster at first, but those gains have costs like difficulty of debugging and the constant danger of undetected typos. Strict will help you think more about why your variables exist and what constitutes sane defaults. You will find yourself creating less variables and knowing more about how your program works. The default values of your variables then become very useful in determining the flow of your code. Trust the monks, strict is your friend!	[reply]
Re^8: Newline's creep in, while using Tie::File by Bod (Parson) on Nov 17, 2020 at 19:35 UTC
Trust the monks, strict is your friend! I'm convinced; I'm convinced... :D	[reply]
Re^7: Newline's creep in, while using Tie::File by bliako (Monsignor) on Nov 17, 2020 at 22:12 UTC
A lot of example code (e.g. CPAN module's doc), for the sake of being brief avoid the use of strict. But even if the example code does not have `use strict;` and does not declare variables (e.g. `my $xyz;`), you should. Regarding the few exceptions where strict should locally be disabled because you want to do some hackery, then by all means zap the bastard as if it was a star-wars rogue (barhards? plenials? prole-lians? obviously not acquainted with the subject).	[reply] [d/l] [select]


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Re^6: Newline's creep in, while using Tie::File

:D