use Perl

• Why so convoluted? Use a literal slice! (Score:2)

  by merlyn (47)

  So I'll have the ID # and a list of other ID #'s and I need to know if it's the smallest.

  You went a very convoluted route to do this:

  if ( $id_number == (sort @ids)[0] )

  Learn about literal slice: (LIST)[INDICIES]. We document it in Learning Perl.

  --
  

  • Randal L. Schwartz
  • Stonehenge
  • Re:Why so convoluted? Use a literal slice! (Score:2)

    by Purdy (2383)

    *grin* - yeah, I know. I should have put a * next to "good" - I'm not endorsing that as THE way: TIMTOWTDI and all that. And your approach is definitely cleaner ... I was just thinking about how to incorporate what I learned about scalarizing a list.
    
    Peace,
    
    Jason
• min() (Score:2)

  by ziggy (25)

  So I'll have the ID # and a list of other ID #'s and I need to know if it's the smallest.

  That code is very confusing. Sorta like taking a flight from NY to LA by via Johannesburg and Perth. Why not just grab the smallest element of the list?

  use List::Util qw(min);
  
  if ( $id_number == min(@ids) )

  If you needed to avoid List::Util for some odd reason, I don't know why you would sort a list, reverse it and take the last element (in a most convoluted fashion) when you could just:

  if ( $id_number =
  • Re:min() (Score:2)

    by Purdy (2383)

    *nod* - agreed. See prev. comment - I simply wanted to apply what Cees taught me about scalarizing a list.
    
    Hmmm -- maybe this won't even see the light of day in my import script now. ;)
    
    Peace,
    
    Jason
• Re: (Score:1)

  by Aristotle (5147)

  I thought it was common knowledge that there is no such thing as a list in scalar context. :-)

  The context issues are particularly important when you return things. my $foo = bar(); will produce a different result with a bar function that does return @arr; vs one that does return ( $baz1, $baz2, $baz3 ). This is even more insidious if you do something like return grep quux($_), @arr.

  Always mind your context.

  Your particular example, btw, besides all the issues already pointed out by others, should at l