Re: When would you choose foreach instead of map?

This is an archived low-energy page for bots and other anonmyous visitors. Please sign up if you are a human and want to interact.

map is fairly hideous and foreach looks much nicer. foreach also adds to the linguistic feel of Perl ( the smooth flow ) because it is intuitively understandable and shows off the benefits of arrays. Of course map has its own uses but I think that for simple cases foreach clutters the visual space much less...

My site

Comment on Re: When would you choose foreach instead of map? Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: When would you choose foreach instead of map? by rjray (Chaplain) on May 20, 2004 at 20:05 UTC
Sorry, but I just cannot agree, or even let this lay unchallenged. `map` and `foreach` are indeed different operations, as others have pointed out to great clarity. And the reason they are both in the language is because of their differences, not their similarities. `map` is largely key to the "Schwartzian Transform". It not only produces a list as a side-effect (which `foreach` doesn't), it can produce very elaborate transformations of the input in the process. `map` is not hideous simply because someone doesn't understand it as well as `foreach`. Indeed, for those of us with a Lisp background, it's immediatly intuitive. `--rjray`	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: When would you choose foreach instead of map? by dragonchild (Archbishop) on May 21, 2004 at 09:11 UTC
It not only produces a list as a side-effect (which foreach doesn't), ... What on earth are you smoking?!? The entire point of map is to produce a list. The list production isn't a side-effect ... it's the whole effect. Modifying the original list is a side-effect. ------ We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age. Then there are Damian modules.... sigh* ... that's not about being less-lazy -- that's about being on some really good drugs -- you know, there is no spoon.* - flyingmoose I shouldn't have to say this, but any code, unless otherwise stated, is untested	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: Re: When would you choose foreach instead of map? by rjray (Chaplain) on May 21, 2004 at 20:08 UTC
Wow, and here I thought the purpose of `map` was to evaluation the block or expression over the range of the list passed to it. Perhaps you thought that by "side-effect", I meant that the creation of the output list was an accidental, unintentional thing. No. I meant "side-effect" in the same sense that most people use it with regards to programming. I'm quite well aware of the differences between `map` and `foreach`, and the conditions under which you would choose one or the other. Try to take a less confrontational tone, it will usually get you better responsiveness from others. `--rjray`	[reply]

• hippo

‥ epoptai's answer Re: how do I set a cookie and redirect was blessed by hippo!

• erzuuli

‥ Anonymous Monks are no longer allowed to use Super Search, due to an excessive use of this resource by robots.


Keep It Simple, Stupid
	PerlMonks