Hi

I'm using your node as inspiration , to grow some food for fthought :)

But how is that expression nearly as clear as ...

How do you judge clarity?

Its like the whole if( not $this) ....  if(!$this)... versus unless( $this )...

yeah to some people one is more natural and the other is confusing

some admonishcritic others for using unless

But then , you can say that about every piece of syntax in programming if its your first day

Often you see beginners baffled by various syntax, they call it weird, or unusual ... and then it turns out they never read the documentation for the syntax, its as if this thing they havent studied is something new and unknowns, how bizzare that they dont magically know it just by becoming aware of its existence :D

I dont know, my first month programming perl I have found using "unless" a bit weird, but then I also found "if not" weird -- weird, its just means new

By second month, its all just another piece of syntax, another verb in the vocabulary, second grade grammar :)

I run into code combinations I haven't practiced or so even seen , which I don't understand, all the time, it doesn't looks wrong at a glace to maintenance programmer, so it takes a minute or more to decipher the code, thats ok, it wasn't instant to write

it gives you some Untillian Headache, thats ok too, you'll learn, it will pass

Programming *is* much more than "just writing code".,

Programming is one of the most complex endeavours man undertakes...its ludicrous to believe anyone who might be reading unfamiliar code should be able to instantly and correctly understand another's programs

if you asked a brain surgeon to limit himself to those procedures that could be performed by an intern, or the eye surgeon to only use stitches that could be removed/replicated by a staff nurse, then medicine would be in a pretty poor state.

Knowing your audience is a good idea to keep in mind, but Production source code in not the place to educate new programmers; nor document design decisions; nor record board meeting deliberations.

:) keep programming fun, keep learning and trying new things, repeat, repeat, repeat :)