initialise state variable from list context, NOT!

Finest monkish minds of the tubes

Getting to grips with Perl 5.10 I am trying to use a state variable in a little SAX fun I am having. To cut to the chase this bit of code

package XML::SAX::jmeter;
use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;
use Data::Dumper;
use base qw(XML::SAX::Base);

sub empty_record {
    return {
        getting => 'url',
        url     => 'http://',
        match   => '',
        getting => '',
        alarm   => 'no',
    };
}

state %record = %{empty_record}; 
#Initialization of state variables in list 
#context currently forbidden at ...
[download]

I also tried giving the compiler a clue ...

state %record = %{empty_record()};
state %record = %{&empty_record};
state %record = %{&empty_record()};
[download]

all the same problem.

now I am using $record holding the array ref and my code works but I would like to know why I could not get the other option to work.

Cheers,
R.

Pereant, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt!

Comment on initialise state variable from list context, NOT! Select or Download Code
Re: initialise state variable from list context, NOT! by JavaFan (Canon) on Sep 08, 2009 at 12:40 UTC
There's no point giving the compiler a clue, as the compiler already knows what you are trying to do. And it's currently forbidden. The reason is that there are too many corner cases to let 'state LIST' be something that is intuitive all the time. `state $scalar` is all that is allowed. Perhaps the best you can do is: `state $record = empty_record;` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: initialise state variable from list context, NOT! by Random_Walk (Parson) on Sep 08, 2009 at 14:17 UTC
Thanks for the quick answer. The reason I thought I may get it to work with some hints for the compiler is that this is allowed `state %record; %record = ( getting => 'url', url => 'http://', match => '', getting => '', alarm => 'no', );` [download] Is an empty hash considered as a safe case? Where is the border of what I can get away with? Cheers, R. Pereant, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt!	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: initialise state variable from list context, NOT! by JavaFan (Canon) on Sep 08, 2009 at 16:21 UTC
One of border cases is: `sub foo { (my $foo, state $bar) = (f(), g()); ... } foo; foo; # Should g() be called?` [download] As for `state %record;`, that is allowed. It's `state` in a list assignment that is disallowed. But note that `state %record; %record = ( ... );` [download] doesn't give you any benefits over `my %record = ( ... );` [download] You will have to write it as `state %record; %record = ( ... ) unless keys %record;` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]


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initialise state variable from list context, NOT!

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