Thanks Rob, Jim and all others who helped me in explaining this code.
On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 1:06 PM, Rob Coops <rco...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 9:58 AM, Raheel Hassan <raheel.has...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Thanks Jim for a nice reply, could you explain what
>> push(@$temp_table,$ref->[$i]); is doing. in the first code.
>>
>> In the second @_= $dbh where as in the if command $_ is getting the values
>> from this default array. Then how it can return \%s..........in the last
>> statement.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 6:54 PM, Jim Gibson <jimsgib...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > On 10/8/09 Thu Oct 8, 2009 9:00 AM, "Raheel Hassan"
>> > <raheel.has...@gmail.com> scribbled:
>> >
>> > > Hello,
>> > >
>> > > I have problems in understanding $...@$ use ?????
>> > >
>> > > 1- my $ref = $$temp_sth -> fetchall_arrayref({});
>> > > for(my $i=0; $i <= $...@$ref}; $i++) {
>> >
>> > For any array @a, the largest index is given by $#a.
>> >
>> > $ref is a reference to an array, as returned by the fetchall_arrayref
>> > method.
>> >
>> > @{$ref} is the array returned.
>> >
>> > Therefore, $...@$ref} is the largest index of the returned array, i.e.,
>> the
>> > index of the last element of the array.
>> >
>> >
>> > > push(@$temp_table,$ref->[$i]);}
>> > >
>> > > Can some one explain the under given function.
>> >
>> > It looks like a function that queries a database, getting all of the
>> data
>> > from a table called "Sensors". Then for each row in that table, checks
>> the
>> > value of the column labeled "StatusID", and, if the value of that column
>> is
>> > "1", adds an entry to a hash with the contents of the "IP" column as
>> key,
>> > and the value taken from the column "SensorID". The function returns a
>> > list,
>> > consisting of a reference to the hash and the value of the $error
>> variable,
>> > which will be 0 if no error occurred, and 1 if an error did occur.
>> >
>> > > 2- sub buildSensorsHashtable
>> > > {
>> > >
>> > > my ($dbh) = @_;
>> > > my $error = 0;
>> > >
>> > > my $query = "SELECT * FROM Sensors";
>> > > my $sth = $dbh->prepare($query);
>> > > if(!$sth || !($sth->execute())) { $error = 1 ;
>> > > }
>> > >
>> > > my $ref = $sth->fetchall_arrayref({});
>> > > my %s;
>> > > my @s = @$ref;
>> > > foreach (@s)
>> > > {
>> > > if($_->{"StatusID"} eq "1") { $s{$_->{"IP"}} =
>> $_->{"SensorID"};
>> > }
>> > > }
>> > >
>> > > return (\%s,$error);
>> > >
>> > > 3- Which is the best tool for debuging perl programs having CGI
>> support.
>> > I
>> > > used DDD but that does not support CGI.
>> >
>> > Debugging CGI programs can be difficult. You need access to the HTTP
>> logs.
>> > You can help yourself by following the advice given in the FAQ "How can
>> I
>> > get better error messages from a CGI program?" (see 'perldoc -g CGI').
>> Try
>> > to set up a test environment, either by executing the CGI program from
>> the
>> > command line (by supplying the various parameters needed) or by running
>> the
>> > program first on a local server where you have access to the logs.
>> >
>> > Good luck.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>
> Hi Raheel,
>
> I can try to explain the following: push(@$temp_table,$ref->[$i]);}
>
> 1)
> Push you most likely know, push a variable onto an array (append at the end
> of the array). Since as Jim explained $ref is a reference to an array and $i
> will contain the counter used by the for loop. $ref->[$i] asked the array
> that $ref is pointing to to return the value at position $i.
> So "push ( @$temp_table, $ref->[$i] )" does nothing more then push the
> value returned by $ref->[$i] onto the array referenced by $temp_table.
>
> 2)
> Please note the following line:
> my %s;
>
> Since in line:
> if($_->{"StatusID"} eq "1") { $s{$_->{"IP"}} = $_->{"SensorID"}; }
>
> You are checking to see if $_->{"Status_ID} is equal to 1 and when it is
> you are in hash %s setting a key $_->{"IP"} with a value of $_->{"SensorID"}
> %s will contain the following
> Key Value
> $_->{"IP"} $_->{"SensorID"}
> For every entry in $_ that has a $_->{"Status_ID} which is equal to 1
>
> In your return statement you are returning two things:
> return (\%s,$error);
> The first being a reference to the hash %s and the second the scalar
> $error. Putting a \ in front of a variable like in your \%s causes Perl to
> return a reference to the variable instead of the variable. You will often
> see this done in return statements in Perl because of the way Perl
> internally works.
> When Perl returns a variable like $error from a sub to where ever this sub
> is called from what Perl does is make a copy of variable $error, and it
> leaves the memory space used by $error for the Perl internals to clean up.
> Now with $error which will contain a string of a few bytes this is not a
> major problem. But with the hash %s this could be many megabytes of data
> being copied from one location in memory to another. Leaving the old copy
> for Perl to clean up which might be done right away or not for a while...
> which could obviously cause problems with available memory.
> Returning a reference to a hash Perl just hands over the memory address
> where the hash can be found, it does not copy the original hash thus it
> doesn't, not even for a short time, copy the entire hash. The added bonus is
> that it requires less work and thus less time making your program that
> little bit faster. You will not notice this unless you are returning
> hundreds of thousands of large variables but still all little bits help.
>
> Regards,
>
> Rob
>
