http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=190815


in reply to A newbie's first try at conditionals

As others have mentioned, your parentheses are unbalanced. I have a similar problem in complex conditional statements, and I have found a trick that helps me - at least when I am developing the code.

Instead of having the conditional all on the one line, like if (($Age < 13) && ($Age > 0)) I try to space things out, like:

if (($Age < 13) && ($Age > 0) ) { some block of statements; } elsif (($Age < 18) && ($Age > 12)) ) { another block of statements; } else { a final block; }
This makes a visual scan of the whole if - elsif - else block easier. Once it all works, you cansquash the lines up if you wish.

Once you start to get into complex data structures then this can solve a lot of stilly typographical erors.