Russ Allbery wrote:
> I'm not overlooking it; I just don't agree with you. There *is* a
> difference.
You are certainly welcome to not agree with me. And if you didn't overlook
it, that is fine.
In my opinion, which you probably will also not agree with, attempting to
toggle between the current undef semantics and tristate semantics is like
trying to stuff three values into one bit. This comment assumes that the
current undef is implemented by a bit in a variable structure; when the bit is
in one state, it means the value is undef, and when the bit is in the other
state, it means the value is not undef. The problem is, when you toggle the
pragma, all variables whose value is undef suddenly have the tristate
semantics, and when you toggle it back, all the variables whose value is undef
suddenly have the undef semantics. This leaves it purely to the programmer to
make sure that the pragma is used in exactly the right places, and, when
tristate semantics are in effect makes unavailable the normal, helpful
warnings that Perl produces when you attempt to misuse undef values.
I guess that since you have no intention of using the tristate semantics, you
don't care whether it is easy to code using them.
--
Glenn
=====
Even if you're on the right track,
you'll get run over if you just sit there.
-- Will Rogers
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