new CGI is easily misunderstood. Some even suggest that you should write CGI::->new() to prevent CGI->new() being interpretted as main::CGI()->new(), which is possible. I'm not completely decided on that last point because I don't think it is supported in moderately old versions of Perl and I feel that I can usually avoid having functions that have the same name as modules that I use. I will probably convert to CGI::->new() before too long, though.

So let's consider:

    my $q= new CGI;
[download]

What if you do this from a package? You probably have a new() method of your own and now you've (probably) done:

    my $q= new( "CGI" );
[download]

I think there are also gotchas with regard to confusing precedence, but I don't recall them.

So many (including me) suggest that you always avoid "indirect object" notation. This might also apply to the standard:

    print HANDLE "Stuff\n";
[download]

which should instead be written:

    HANDLE->print( "Stuff\n" );
[download]

but I've not seen that point pushed much. I personally think that things will slowly migrate that direction, though.

        - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")

---

---

• Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
• Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:

  <code> <a> <b> <big> <blockquote> <br /> <dd> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr /> <i> <li> <nbsp> <ol> <p> <small> <strike> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <th> <tr> <tt> <u> <ul>

• Snippets of code should be wrapped in <code> tags not <pre> tags. In fact, <pre> tags should generally be avoided. If they must be used, extreme care should be taken to ensure that their contents do not have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor intervention).
• Want more info? How to link or How to display code and escape characters are good places to start.