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in reply to Meaning of Maintanability and Functionality in Coding Perl

Ditto everything graff said. The point about looking at old code is one of the best ways I have learnt, when I have had to go back and maintain code which I wrote and found I couldn't understand chunks of it I knew I had work to do. I am probably overly verbose in my coding now but I know it will be clear when I come back to it in 1 year or 3. A lecturer in one of the few comp sci classes I took said that "a program is a letter from one programmer to another that a computer just happens to be able to understand", I think that is a good way to approach all your programs, like it is a letter to another programmer who you know nothing about.

Other resources which you might find useful are dominus's Program Repair Shop and Red Flags I, II and III. I haven't had a chance to read it yet but judging by the sample chapter you will also want Perl Best Practices by TheDamian.

--
Murray Barton
Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought. -Basho

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