use strict...

[Robin]

I know this is a pretty stupid question, maybe, but is it better to
use strict? I have never gotten a concise answer to this question
because there reallty isn't any docs on it.
thanks,
-ro9bin

 

[Randal L. Schwartz]

Robin> I know this is a pretty stupid question, maybe, but is it better to
Robin> use strict? I have never gotten a concise answer to this question
Robin> because there reallty isn't any docs on it.

% perldoc strict

NAME
strict - Perl pragma to restrict unsafe constructs

SYNOPSIS
use strict;

use strict "vars";
use strict "refs";
use strict "subs";

use strict;
no strict "vars";

DESCRIPTION

[...]

You have a strange meaning of "isn't any". Care to elaborate?

print "Just another Perl hacker,"; # the original

 

[Owen]

I know this is a pretty stupid question, maybe, but is it better to
use strict? I have never gotten a concise answer to this question
because there reallty isn't any docs on it.
thanks,
-ro9bin

There are a number of good reasons to use strict, however, in my case
I use it to help in de-bugging and all other side benefits are a
bonus.

90% of my errors are misspelt variables, IE, somwhere you have

# my $blah;

and later you use $blaj by mistake, it will tell you in its own
fashion that $blaj is perhaps a mistake.

Try this program to get get a message that would not be generated if
'use strict' was not used;

=========================

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;

my $blah;

$blaj =2;

========================

You should also 'use warnings' as well. They all help




Owen

 

[RedGrittyBrick]

I know this is a pretty stupid question, maybe, but is it better to
use strict?

Yes. I try to make all my (multi-line) programs start

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

I have never gotten a concise answer to this question
because there reallty isn't any docs on it.

The subject is discussed in this newsgroup surprisingly often.

There seems to be a strong consensus for strict and warnings. There is a
respected minority (possibly just one) who argue that `-w` is better
than `use warnings`. Unless you have read and understood the discussion
(and how it applies to your current project) you should 'use warnings'.

 

[Patrick H.]

I know this is a pretty stupid question, maybe, but is it better to
use strict?

I like it because it makes me be constantly aware of scope since I
have to consciously define everything somewhere. That can only help as
your program code gets longer.

Patrick

 

[sln]

[snip]

Since Robin (and, I assume, you) do not know why you would _not_ use strict,
you _should_ use strict.

Then it might be better to know circumstances one wouldn't use strict in
relation to vars, subs, refs, performance, debug, production, bugs, versions,
etc ... There has to be a starting point for full understanding.

-sln

 

[Steve]

I know this is a pretty stupid question, maybe, but is it better to
use strict? I have never gotten a concise answer to this question
because there reallty isn't any docs on it.
thanks,
-ro9bin

I've been reading the oreilly book on perl and it says to always use
warnings and strict. It can be a bit frustrating sometimes though.
Like when your program will compile without using strict and won't
when you use it . But that's what it's there for! To make sure you
do things right!