Dan Anderson wrote:
>
> I am somewhat confused as to when to prototype a subroutine. Under the
> tips section Programming Perl makes the following points:
>
> 1. Prototyping can lead to inlined functions which increases the speed
> of commonly used functions. Prototype when you can.
>
> 2. As soon as somebody uses your function in a way it wasn't supposed
> to be used, your program can explode. Never prototype.
>
> (This is not verbatim -- but it's the same general idea)
>
> Can anyone go more in depth about the pros and cons of prototyping?
Everybody who has an opinion on this will have a different one, so
here's mine:
- Forget about optimising your program until you've found that it's
too slow.
- Only ever prototype well-established functions that you want to
write /very/ well (including optimisation and parameter
verification) and then forget about them.
- As far as possible, code all calls to prototyped subroutines without
brackets around the parameter list. Like this:
noproto('A', 1);
withproto 'A', 1;
so that the difference is clear.
- A special case is prototyping the subroutine for a call to 'sort'
which will allow you to pass the two parameters in the @_ parameter
list instead of in package variables $a and $b.
Like I said, read what others have to say and adopt your own policy,
but be consistent.
Rob
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