>>>>> "DT" == Dave Tang <d.t...@imb.uq.edu.au> writes:
DT> On Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:48:55 +1000, Thomas Bätzler DT> <t.baetz...@bringe.com> wrote: >> Dave Tang <d.t...@imb.uq.edu.au> asked: >>> Just a quick question, how does Perl interpret something like >>> $array[0.7995038473872]? >> >> Just like $array[ int(0.7995038473872) ], i.e. the floating point >> number is coerced into an integer value by cutting off the decimal >> places. DT> Ah cool. So when using rand in this aspect (i.e. getting random DT> indexes from an array), the int is negligible? if you think about it, array indexing needs an integer so the index expression must be coerced to one. this allows for the common idiom of random selection from an array with $array[rand @array]. note that rand never returns the value of its argument, just numbers from 0 to below it. so that will never return the count of the array which would be 1 past the last index. so it works very well in this context. in fact you can say the array index provides an integer context in the same way you have scalar and list contexts and hash keys are provided a string context. uri -- Uri Guttman ------ u...@stemsystems.com -------- http://www.sysarch.com -- ----- Perl Code Review , Architecture, Development, Training, Support ------ --------- Gourmet Hot Cocoa Mix ---- http://bestfriendscocoa.com --------- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscr...@perl.org For additional commands, e-mail: beginners-h...@perl.org http://learn.perl.org/
