From: Matt Kraai <kraai@ftbfs.org>
Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:58:58 GMT
Subject: Re: [PATCH] gitweb: merge boolean feature subroutines
Message-ID: <20090104155858.GC4205@ftbfs.org>
In-Reply-To: <9b18b3110901040341n5ff5fa09s878228131d11d2a6@mail.gmail.com>

On Sun, Jan 04, 2009 at 12:41:14PM +0100, demerphq wrote:
> Why execute more opcodes, and return a slightly surprising false, when
> you dont have to?
> 
> Is it really deep perl magic to do:
> 
>   return $val eq 'true';
> 
> instead of
> 
>   return $val eq 'true' ? 1 : 0;
> 
> or the actual use:
> 
>    if ($val eq 'true') {
>       return 1
>    } else {
>       return 0
>    }
>
> Isn't the former superior just on pure minimalism metrics? Theres less
> code to understand, less code to go wrong, and as a bonus it returns a
> true boolean. Isn't that just a win-win-win? I mean most perl
> programmers I know would instantly convert the latter two to the first
> just on the grounds that the first version is the clearest expression
> of the desired intent.

I agree that what you suggest is better than the alternatives you
present.  Unfortunately, none of them match the current behavior.
Here's the current code:

	if ($val eq 'true') {
		return 1;
	} elsif ($val eq 'false') {
		return 0;
	}

	return $_[0];

Is there a way to use the form you suggest while falling back to the
default if $val isn't set to 'true' or 'false'?

-- 
Matt                                                 http://ftbfs.org/