> > $primary_context = want 'LIST', 2, 'LVALUE';
>
> So these arguments can be passed in any order, and want checks them? I
> like it. But I worry if you say something like:
>
> my 42 @stuff = get_data;
>
> And get_data looks like:
>
> sub get_data {
> # Need to make sure we're being asked for 42 return
> # values in an array context
> (want 'LIST', 42) ? return @hugedata
> : die "Bad usage of get_data";
> }
>
> You might not get what you want? Admittedly, the above is an edge case,
> but I wonder if some argument ordering is needed?
I think argument ordering would be counterproductive, since one would have tp
either learn (yeah, right!) or continually look-up the order. If there's
any chance of Weird Edge Cases like you posit above, you could write:
sub get_data {
# Need to make sure we're being asked for 42 return
# values in an array context
(want->{LIST} && want->{COUNT}==42)
? return @hugedata
: die "Bad usage of get_data";
}
> I've been thinking about this for some time, but haven't had a chance to
> bring it up. It seems that we should really be detecting an 'ARRAY'
> context as well, if we are detecting a 'HASH' context, since a 'LIST' is
> really just a more general case of both of them.
>
> @data = Matrix->gendata; # want 'ARRAY';
> ($a, $b, $c) = Matrix->gendata # fail
>
> It seems like this is something that want should be able to handle.
I *really* doubt that this is ever a useful distinction.
Can anyone suggest a Real World case where it might be useful?
Damian
