in reply to Re: Re: Re: Re: Perl Idioms Explained: && and || "Short Circuit" operators
in thread Perl Idioms Explained - && and || "Short Circuit" operators
I look forward to the power of the P6 Given/When construct immensely, but I still hanker for the the limited but oh-so-useful and efficient switch/case construct. There are so many occasions when this simple integer-based dispatch mechanism is exactly all that is needed, that I think it would be worth having, in addition to the much more powerful, but equally, much less efficient Given/When construct.
I'm aware of theDamian's switch module, but it attempts to be much more than a simple switch construct, coming much closer to the given/when flexibility. The downside of that it that it is much less efficient for the predominant 'simple case'. I've also had problems with it getting confused.
Hash based dispatch tables are okay and pretty efficient, but the need to put the selected code into either a sub or runtime eval makes it less useful for things where the selected code is minimal and speed important. Calling a sub to increment or decrement a count is high overhead if your scanning long strings and maintaining counts as you go.
"Think for yourself!" - Abigail
Hooray!