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Revision 1.7 by root, Sun Aug 2 08:29:46 2009 UTC vs.
Revision 1.17 by root, Tue Sep 8 16:04:52 2009 UTC

9 # roughly the same as, with much lower memory usage: 9 # roughly the same as, with much lower memory usage:
10 # 10 #
11 # use strict qw(vars subs); 11 # use strict qw(vars subs);
12 # use feature qw(say state switch); 12 # use feature qw(say state switch);
13 # no warnings; 13 # no warnings;
14 # use warnings qw(FATAL closed threads internal debugging pack substr malloc
15 # unopened portable prototype inplace io pipe unpack regexp
16 # deprecated exiting glob digit printf utf8 layer
17 # reserved parenthesis taint closure semicolon);
18 # no warnings qw(exec newline);
14 19
15=head1 DESCRIPTION 20=head1 DESCRIPTION
16 21
17This module implements some sane defaults for Perl programs, as defined by 22This module implements some sane defaults for Perl programs, as defined by
18two typical (or not so typical - use your common sense) specimens of 23two typical (or not so typical - use your common sense) specimens of Perl
19Perl coders. 24coders.
20 25
21=over 4 26=over 4
22 27
23=item no warnings
24
25The dreaded warnings. Even worse, the horribly dreaded C<-w> switch. Even
26though we don't care if other people use warnings (and certainly there are
27useful ones), a lot of warnings simply go against the spirit of Perl, most
28prominently, the warnings related to C<undef>. There is nothing wrong with
29C<undef>: it has well-defined semantics, it is useful, and spitting out
30warnings you never asked for is just evil.
31
32So every module needs C<no warnings> to avoid somebody accidentally using
33C<-w> and forcing his bad standards on our code. No will do.
34
35Funnily enough, L<perllexwarn> explicitly mentions C<-w> (and not in a
36favourable way), but standard utilities, such as L<prove>, or MakeMaker
37when running C<make test> enable them blindly.
38
39=item use strict qw(subs vars) 28=item use strict qw(subs vars)
40 29
41Using C<use strict> is definitely common sense, but C<use strict 30Using C<use strict> is definitely common sense, but C<use strict
42'refs'> definitely overshoots it's usefulness. After almost two 31'refs'> definitely overshoots its usefulness. After almost two
43decades of Perl hacking, we decided that it does more harm than being 32decades of Perl hacking, we decided that it does more harm than being
44useful. Specifically, constructs like these: 33useful. Specifically, constructs like these:
45 34
46 @{ $var->[0] } 35 @{ $var->[0] }
47 36
49scope, and C<$var> can legally be C<undef>: 38scope, and C<$var> can legally be C<undef>:
50 39
51 @{ $var->[0] || [] } 40 @{ $var->[0] || [] }
52 41
53This is annoying, and doesn't shield against obvious mistakes such as 42This is annoying, and doesn't shield against obvious mistakes such as
54using C<"">, so one would even have to write: 43using C<"">, so one would even have to write (at least for the time
44being):
55 45
56 @{ defined $var->[0] ? $var->[0] : [] } 46 @{ defined $var->[0] ? $var->[0] : [] }
57 47
58... which nobody with a bit of common sense would consider 48... which nobody with a bit of common sense would consider
49writing.
50
59writing. Curiously enough, sometimes, perl is not so strict, as this works 51Curiously enough, sometimes perl is not so strict, as this works even with
60even with C<use strict> in scope: 52C<use strict> in scope:
61 53
62 for (@{ $var->[0] }) { ... 54 for (@{ $var->[0] }) { ...
63 55
64If that isnt hipocrasy! And all that from a mere program! 56If that isn't hypocrisy! And all that from a mere program!
57
65 58
66=item use feature qw(say state given) 59=item use feature qw(say state given)
67 60
68We found it annoying that we always have to enable extra features. If 61We found it annoying that we always have to enable extra features. If
69something breaks because it didn't anticipate future changes, so be 62something breaks because it didn't anticipate future changes, so be
70it. 5.10 broke almost all our XS modules and nobody cared either - and few 63it. 5.10 broke almost all our XS modules and nobody cared either (or at
64least I know of nobody who really complained about gratuitous changes -
65as opposed to bugs).
66
71modules that are no longer maintained work with newer versions of Perl, 67Few modules that are not actively maintained work with newer versions of
72regardless of use feature. 68Perl, regardless of use feature or not, so a new major perl release means
69changes to many modules - new keywords are just the tip of the iceberg.
73 70
74If your code isn't alive, it's dead, jim. 71If your code isn't alive, it's dead, Jim - be an active maintainer.
75 72
76=item much less memory
77 73
78Just using all those pragmas together waste <blink>I<< B<776> kilobytes 74=item no warnings, but a lot of new errors
79>></blink> of precious memory in my perl, for I<every single perl process 75
80using our code>, which on our machines, is a lot. In comparison, this 76Ah, the dreaded warnings. Even worse, the horribly dreaded C<-w>
81module only uses I<< B<four> >> kilobytes (I even had to write it out so 77switch: Even though we don't care if other people use warnings (and
78certainly there are useful ones), a lot of warnings simply go against the
79spirit of Perl.
80
81Most prominently, the warnings related to C<undef>. There is nothing wrong
82with C<undef>: it has well-defined semantics, it is useful, and spitting
83out warnings you never asked for is just evil.
84
85The result was that every one of our modules did C<no warnings> in the
86past, to avoid somebody accidentally using and forcing his bad standards
87on our code. Of course, this switched off all warnings, even the useful
88ones. Not a good situation. Really, the C<-w> switch should only enable
89warnings for the main program only.
90
91Funnily enough, L<perllexwarn> explicitly mentions C<-w> (and not in a
92favourable way, calling it outright "wrong"), but standard utilities, such
93as L<prove>, or MakeMaker when running C<make test>, still enable them
94blindly.
95
96For version 2 of common::sense, we finally sat down a few hours and went
97through I<every single warning message>, identifiying - according to
98common sense - all the useful ones.
99
100This resulted in the rather impressive list in the SYNOPSIS. When we
101weren't sure, we didn't include the warning, so the list might grow in
102the future (we might have made a mistake, too, so the list might shrink
103as well).
104
105Note the presence of C<FATAL> in the list: we do not think that the
106conditions caught by these warnings are worthy of a warning, we I<insist>
107that they are worthy of I<stopping> your program, I<instantly>. They are
108I<bugs>!
109
110Therefore we consider C<common::sense> to be much stricter than C<use
111warnings>, which is good if you are into strict things (we are not,
112actually, but these things tend to be subjective).
113
114After deciding on the list, we ran the module against all of our code that
115uses C<common::sense> (that is almost all of our code), and found only one
116occurence where one of them caused a problem: one of elmex's (unreleased)
117modules contained:
118
119 $fmt =~ s/([^\s\[]*)\[( [^\]]* )\]/\x0$1\x1$2\x0/xgo;
120
121We quickly agreed that indeed the code should be changed, even though it
122happened to do the right thing when the warning was switched off.
123
124
125=item mucho reduced memory usage
126
127Just using all those pragmas mentioned in the SYNOPSIS together wastes
128<blink>I<< B<776> kilobytes >></blink> of precious memory in my perl, for
129I<every single perl process using our code>, which on our machines, is a
130lot. In comparison, this module only uses I<< B<four> >> kilobytes (I even
82it looks like more) of memory on the same platform. 131had to write it out so it looks like more) of memory on the same platform.
83 132
84The money/time/effort/electricity invested in these gigabytes (probably 133The money/time/effort/electricity invested in these gigabytes (probably
85petabytes globally!) of wasted memory could easily save 42 trees, and a 134petabytes globally!) of wasted memory could easily save 42 trees, and a
86kitten! 135kitten!
87 136
137Unfortunately, until everybods applies more common sense, there will still
138often be modules that pull in the monster pragmas. But one can hope...
139
88=cut 140=cut
89 141
90package common::sense; 142package common::sense;
91 143
92our $VERSION = '0.04'; 144our $VERSION = '2.0';
145
146# paste this into pelr to find bitmask
147
148# no warnings;
149# use warnings qw(FATAL closed threads internal debugging pack substr malloc unopened portable prototype
150# inplace io pipe unpack regexp deprecated exiting glob digit printf
151# utf8 layer reserved parenthesis taint closure semicolon);
152# no warnings qw(exec newline);
153# BEGIN { warn join "", map "\\x$_", unpack "(H2)*", ${^WARNING_BITS}; exit 0 };
154
155# overload should be included
93 156
94sub import { 157sub import {
95 # no warnings 158 # verified with perl 5.8.0, 5.10.0
96 ${^WARNING_BITS} ^= ${^WARNING_BITS}; 159 ${^WARNING_BITS} = "\xfc\x3f\xf3\x00\x0f\xf3\xcf\xc0\xf3\xfc\x33\x03";
97 160
98 # use strict vars subs 161 # use strict vars subs
99 $^H |= 0x00000600; 162 $^H |= 0x00000600;
100 163
101 # use feature 164 # use feature
117=head1 STABILITY AND FUTURE VERSIONS 180=head1 STABILITY AND FUTURE VERSIONS
118 181
119Future versions might change just about everything in this module. We 182Future versions might change just about everything in this module. We
120might test our modules and upload new ones working with newer versions of 183might test our modules and upload new ones working with newer versions of
121this module, and leave you standing in the rain because we didn't tell 184this module, and leave you standing in the rain because we didn't tell
122you. 185you. In fact, we did so when switching from 1.0 to 2.0, which enabled gobs
186of warnings, and made them FATAL on top.
123 187
124Most likely, we will pick a few useful warnings, instead of just disabling
125all of them. And maybe we will load some nifty modules that try to emulate 188Maybe we will load some nifty modules that try to emulate C<say> or so
126C<say> or so with perls older than 5.10 (this module, of course, should 189with perls older than 5.10 (this module, of course, should work with older
127work with older perl versions - supporting 5.8 for example is just common 190perl versions - supporting 5.8 for example is just common sense at this
128sense at this time. Maybe not in the future, but of course you can trust 191time. Maybe not in the future, but of course you can trust our common
129our common sense). 192sense to be consistent with, uhm, our opinion).
130 193
131
132=head1 WHAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS MODULE 194=head1 WHAT OTHER PEOPLE HAD TO SAY ABOUT THIS MODULE
195
196apeiron
197
198 "... wow"
199 "I hope common::sense is a joke."
200
201crab
202
203 "i wonder how it would be if joerg schilling wrote perl modules."
204
205Adam Kennedy
206
207 "Very interesting, efficient, and potentially something I'd use all the time."
208 [...]
209 "So no common::sense for me, alas."
210
211H.Merijn Brand
212
213 "Just one more reason to drop JSON::XS from my distribution list"
133 214
134Pista Palo 215Pista Palo
135 216
136 "Something in short supply these days..." 217 "Something in short supply these days..."
137 218
166 247
167acme 248acme
168 249
169 "THERE IS NO 'no common::sense'!!!! !!!! !!" 250 "THERE IS NO 'no common::sense'!!!! !!!! !!"
170 251
171crab 252apeiron (meta-comment about us commenting^Wquoting his comment)
172 253
173 "i wonder how it would be if joerg schilling wrote perl modules." 254 How about quoting this: get a clue, you fucktarded amoeba.
174 255
175=head1 AUTHOR 256=head1 AUTHOR
176 257
177 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 258 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
178 http://home.schmorp.de/ 259 http://home.schmorp.de/
179 260
180 Robin Redeker, "<elmex at ta-sa.org>". 261 Robin Redeker, "<elmex at ta-sa.org>".
181 262
182
183=cut 263=cut
184 264

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