On Sun, Apr 13, 2008 at 11:58 AM, brian d foy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: snip > > First off, don't call functions with &*. > > The is _Learning Perl_, and he hasn't got to the point where we tell > the reader they don't need the & in front of subroutine calls. Most of > the progression goes from the general rule to the usual case. snip
I remember in Learning Perl 2nd edition it never calling functions with & (it had a footnote stating something to the effect that func's name was really &func, but that you normally didn't need to spell it that way). Is this some error that has crept into later editions? Do you have a rationale for confusing the reader by first telling him/her to call function with & and then later telling him/her not to because it breaks prototypes and passes the calling functions @_ if no arguments are supplied? Adding the & adds magic, I wouldn't call that the "general case". It seems like handing a someone a loaded gun and teaching him/her about proper gun safety an hour later. snip > > The problem here is that you > > are evaluating <STDIN> in list context. > > It's supposed to be in list context. That's how you get multiple lines > containing one number per line, as noted in the prompt string. :) snip Reread the rest of that paragraph; the problem the user is seeing is that the input phase never ends. This is because he/she is evaluating <STDIN> in list context and STDIN does not have an end (if it where normal file handle it wouldn't be a problem because the file has an end). So he/she must give the program an end by typing control-d on UNIX or control-z on Win32. -- Chas. Owens wonkden.net The most important skill a programmer can have is the ability to read. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://learn.perl.org/
