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in reply to Re: Two simple code style advice questions
in thread Two simple code style advice questions

OK defined as 0? Yuck!

That's as bad as defining TRUE as 0.

It would be far clearer as:

use constant NOERROR => 0;

my $errstr = ( $case != NOERROR ? $msg[$case] : "" );

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Though I'd skip that conditional statement completely and embed the logic in the data:

$msg[ 0 ] = ''; 

...

my $errstr = $msg[ $case ];

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With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'
Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
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Re^3: Two simple code style advice questions
by blue_cowdawg (Monsignor) on Jan 16, 2013 at 14:50 UTC
        OK defined as 0? Yuck!

    It would seem to me that most Unix commands return 0 when things are "OK." So.. if you want to accuse me of showing my C programming roots, I plead guily.

    Peter L. Berghold -- Unix Professional
    Peter -at- Berghold -dot- Net; AOL IM redcowdawg Yahoo IM: blue_cowdawg
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      It would seem to me that most Unix commands return 0 when things are "OK."

      BUT, (and I'm still trying to get the developers here to overcome this), in shell programming, zero IS true (e.g. consider && and || in things like cmd1 && cmd2 or cmd1 || cmd2, and Perl is not shell.

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      It would seem to me that most Unix commands return 0 when things are "OK." So.. if you want to accuse me of showing my C programming roots, I plead guily.

      I understand the derivation, but still, the bland token OK has always suggested TRUE to me, and always will.

      Hence my suggested alternative of use constant NOERROR => 0; which seems less likely to cause confusion.

      That said, I wouldn't define a constant for 0 at all. It simply isn't necessary to compare against zero in Perl. The clearest idiom is simply:

      my $errstr = $case ? $msg[ $case ] : '';

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      But I'd still prefer setting $msg[ 0 ] == ''; and simply:

      my $errstr = $msg[ $case ];

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      With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'
      Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
      "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
      In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
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      Why even bother defining a constant ;) 
      no warnings;
if (0 == OK) { print 'Everything is ok here!'; }

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