use Perl

• Other Languages (Score:1)

  by shiflett (3841)

  Maybe they are taking other languages into consideration. For example, to someone with a PHP background, this looks like a property:

  my $foo = $obj->bar;

  This looks like a method:

  my $foo = $obj->bar();

  I think the parentheses universally indicate a function or method, so that might be what they mean by clarity.
  • Re:Other Languages (Score:2)

    by geoff (2013)

    yeah, like I care about other languages... nice of you to notice the php to perl migration strategy we've been covertly implementing, though ;)
    • Re:Other Languages (Score:1)

      by shiflett (3841)

      I'll see your PHP to Perl migration strategy and raise you a Perl to PHP migration strategy:

      http://search.cpan.org/dist/PHP-Interpreter/ [cpan.org]

      :-)
• just easier to read (Score:1)

  by perrin (4270)

  Sorry Geoff, I'm in total agreement with this style guideline. I find it much easier to scan the code when the method calls end in (). I find it especially good in cases where they are chained.
  • Re:just easier to read (Score:2)

    by geoff (2013)

    ugh... it's chaining where I find them the most superfluous

      my $val = Foo->new->attribute->format;

    just feels much more idiomatic to me than

      my $val = Foo->new()->attribute()->format();

    but ok, you're a reasonable guy, so I'll give in :)
    • Re:just easier to read (Score:1)

      by perrin (4270)

      Imagine a mixed-case like this:
      
my $val = Foo->new->{attribute}->format->{id};

      It can get confusing quickly, especially when people do that horrible "return yourself" method chaining that SOAP-Lite uses. I know I'm in the minority on this though. I just don't think there's any advantage to leaving them off, and it makes your code less consistent.
• What about :lvalue? (Score:1)

  by jk2addict (4946)

  A sub is a property is a sub. What about when using the :lvalue attributes; as evil as they are?

  sub value : lvalue {
      my $this = shift;
      $this->{VALUE};
  };

  Would you put the parens here:

  my $value = $self->name();

  but not here:

  $self->name = 'Chris';

  or leave it

  $self->name() = 'Chris';
  • Re:What about :lvalue? (Score:2)

    by Dom2 (2981)

    Using :lvalue is bad because you lose encapsulation.

    -Dom
    • Re:What about :lvalue? (Score:1)

      by jk2addict (4946)

      Hell I'd never use it. I hate.
      
      However, I have seen 3rd party modules that use it internally, so calling those 3rd party functions will fall under the formatting policy above.
    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Aristotle (5147)

      Unless you return a tied object that validates the value it gets assigned. Which is obviously a huge overhead.
• The only rationale for consistent guidelines is... (Score:2)

  by rafael (2125)

  ...make maintainance easier.

  In this case, that may make the code more greppable. So you don't have "->foobar" results when you grep for "->foo" for example. (Note that I and my shop both disagree with this particular guideline :)
• One of the nice things about -method()... (Score:1)

  by Alias (5735)

  Is that at least that style item can be automated by perltidy.
  
  Oh wait, I'm dreaming about the PPI automanipulatification of Perl::Style (or perhaps you'd call it Perl::MyWay)...
  
  In any case I REALLY need to get around to getting that written. :/