use Perl

• Specless (Score:1)

  by LaPerla (33)

  How can a module that's unable to say what it actually does ever have a bug?
  
  YAML::Tiny is a misnomer and should be abandoned unless it is intending to become compliant to the YAML spec.
  
  Did you ever answer http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2007-06/msg00783.html [mpe.mpg.de]
  ?
  • Re:Specless (Score:1)

    by mauzo (8185) on 2007.12.06 0:46 (#59316)

    Perl doesn't have a formal spec, either, yet it seems to acquire its fair share of bugs :).

    YAML::Tiny has a perfectly decent (informal, implicit) spec:

    1. if write_string is passed any Perl data structure consisting only of unmagical scalars, arrays and hashes, produce a spec-compliant YAML document representing it which can be parsed by YAML::Tiny or any more complete YAML parser;
    2. if write_string is passed any other Perl data structure, report an error saying so;
    3. if read_string is passed any spec-compliant YAML document, either
       1. parse that document correctly and return the corresponding Perl data structure, or
       2. report an error that this document is unsupported and a more complete parser should be used;
    4. if read_string is passed anything that isn't a spec-compliant YAML document, report an error saying so.

    Any other behaviour, such as Adam has just fixed, is a bug. The only thing that might be useful is documentation of which cases get 3.1 and which get 3.2.

    Reply to This

    Parent

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Alias (5735)

      The elements that belong in 3.1 SHOULD be something like "any block-mode YAML content that resolves to the classes of Perl structures supported by write-out".
    • Re: (Score:1)

      by chromatic (983)

      Perl doesn't have a formal spec, either, yet it seems to acquire its fair share of bugs :).

      Do you see someone distributing software with "Perl" in the name that doesn't actually do what Perl does? I haven't, at least since kurila picked up its new name.
      • Re: (Score:1)

        by sigzero (5768)

        Doesn't YAML::Tiny tell the user exactly what it is?

        NAME:
        
        YAML::Tiny - Read/Write YAML files with as little code as possible
        PREAMBLE ^
        
        The YAML specification is huge. Really, really huge. It contains all the functionality of XML, except with flexibility and choice, which makes it easier to read, but with a formal specification that is more complex than XML.
        
        The original pure-Perl implementation YAML costs just over 4 megabytes of memory to load. Just like with Windows .ini files (3 meg to load) and CSS (3
        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Alias (5735)

          > I read that and knew exactly what it did. It doesn't attempt to follow the huge YAML spec but doesn't allow you to read/write basic YAML files.
          
          huh? Is that a typo?
          
          Look at the samples contain in the tests, it lets you read/write all sorts of basic YAML files.
        • Re: (Score:1)

          by chromatic (983)

          Doesn't YAML::Tiny tell the user exactly what it is?

          I suppose that depends on your definition of the words incomplete, correct, usable, and specification.