Idea for the next pool

[gmpassos]

How about this for the next pool:

What resource you haven't used yet in Perl (in your own code)?

tainting

sockets

regexp

references

format()

tie

fork

thread

XS

OO

POD

XML

Well, a better list can be made, but I think that will be interesting to know what resource is not used very much, or what the monk haven't learned yet. Soo, this resources can be reworked, or better docs can be writed.

[rnahi]

If you are talking about "Perl resources", then XML looks out of place.

Some additions in this category:

• backreferences
• lookahead/lookbehind
• recursive regexp
• pack/unpack
• vec
• splice
• array slices
• hash slices
• nested map
• eval
• the Schwartzian transform
• BEGIN / END
• one-liners
If you talk about programming resources in general, then you should include:
• databases
• DB files
• CGI
• LWP
• signals
• Web services
• mod_perl
• templates
• a Parser

[Aristotle]

I like the idea, but this really doesn't work as a poll where you can only select a single option..

[DrHyde]

• Have you used s///e?
  • Have you used s///ee?
    • did you really understand what you were doing?
• Quantum::Superpositions?
  • In production code
• An Acme module?
  • without realising that they're a joke

[menolly]

Looks like the start of a good Perl purity test to me :)
• Have you ever used '..' in a scalar context?
  • On purpose?

[PodMaster]

My dad also says pool instead of poll (pole actually) ;) I think the list is to short. Take a look at seven stages of a perl programmer to help you generate a bigger list (either that or perltoc).

[tilly]

For a poll it makes more sense to ask something like, Which of these is next on your list of things to try or improve on in Perl? That works better for a single option poll. It works if you want to include (as above) a mix of Perl-specific features and non-Perl technologies. And it lessons the possibility that people will accuse you of leaving out what they actually want to try next.

Now let me disprove the last benefit. I know that you say a better list can be made, but personally I am somewhat miffed to not see closures on your list. :-P

Examples of worthy additions could include DBI, Inline::*, mod_perl, attributes, and test-driven development.

[gmpassos]

Great idea!

[Abigail-II]

I've never used formats, threads, XS or XML in my Perl code. XML is of course not a Perl resource, it's just a very verbose way of doing in-band data markup. For formatting output, I've never felt the need of anything more fancy than (s)printf. As for XS, well, if I want to program in C, I program in C, not in XS. And threads, well, I've never seen a reason to use them. To me, there's no benefit of threads over fork/shared memory/4-arg select.

I think that will be interesting to know what resource is not used very much, or what the monk haven't learned yet. Soo, this resources can be reworked, or better docs can be writed.

That sounds you are under the impression everything in your list has to be used a lot, or else there's something wrong with it. If it turns out that only one in 20 people use format, does that mean you feel the urge to stimulate the use of format by "reworking the resource" (whatever that means), or by writing better docs for it?

Say you had a someone different list, with both the .. and ... operators in them, and it turned out that the former was used much more than the latter, are you going to actively promote the use of ... by writing better docs (perldotdotdottut.pod), starting an advertisement campaign (add three inches to your penis by using dot dot dot!) or reworking it such that your computer says "Thank you!" each time you use ...?

I'm a bit of a loss of what you are trying to archieve.

Abigail

[DrHyde]

I'm a bit of a loss of what you are trying to archieve.

Presumably - in addition to the stated aim of improving/adding docs - no more and no less than whoever came up with the current poll, "the number of ways I've independently discovered to make Perl segfault".

[artist]

Some sort of ranking and division would be useful, if this really has to get a go.
Example:I am not using 'format' now as much but so is 'XS'(atleast not directly). I won't consider 'format' much of a thing that I will learn in the future, but that's not the case for 'XS'.

[perrin]

The format() function seems to be an idea that has come and gone. People typically use either sprintf or a templating module instead. I'd bet that format is the least commonly used of all the things on your list.

[DrHyde]

I'd bet that XML is the least commonly used, and the most commonly ABused :-)