On Thu, 2004-01-22 at 16:32, Dan Muey wrote: > > On Thu, 2004-01-22 at 16:16, Dan Muey wrote: > > > > On Thu, 2004-01-22 at 13:18, Dan Muey wrote: > > > > > There are always comments like "you can slurp the file > > as long as > > > > > it's not too big" or "becareful not to slurp a really > > big file or > > > > > you'll be in trouble". > > > > > > > > I'd like to add that some of it depends on swap space. I've > > > > slurped well past physical memory and most of it went to > > > > swap. Although the script was significantly lower it still > > > > ran. However, if you get to a certain point your machine -- > > > > no matter what OS you are running -- will crash and burn. Of > > > > course, this is *if* you can get to that level. > > > > Users of *BSD systems with limit installed know that if your > > > > process eats too much memory IT will die and not the system. > > > > > > Good info Dan, I'm surprised more folks aren't adding their .02 > > > since it seems (to me anyway) like people are just as religious > > > about slurping as they are strict and warnings. > > > > I think a lot of it is a problem of how exactly to answer. > > There will always be situations where slurping is a great > > idea and situations where slurping is a horrible idea. I > > wish it were possible to give a better example like, "Use > > formula _____ to calculate whether or not you can slurp > > safely". But there are just too many variables that change > > from computer to computer and program to program then to say anything > > besides: "If you slurp watch the resources your program is > > using and kill it off before it DOSes your computer". > > Yeah it's tough because it is so vague, that's what I was hoping to clarify. > It's easy to say use strict because .... > > But I see a lot of "don't slurp that" and I was hoping for more > clear reasons/situatuions to or not to slurp so people positn code can have a better > idea why a perosn said: > "do(n't) slurp your file here" > > Basically we need to expalin why more: > > - Don't slurp this because it's STDIN and it may be huge, so huge in fact it could > overload your system. > - If this is an html file you'd probably be safe slurping it up to ease it's > processing.
I think it's like using a "no warnings" or "no strict" pragma to do some dangerous things because you know what you're doing. It's there for people when they get advanced enough to need it, but it's not a good idea to encourage its use on a beginners list. -Dan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <http://learn.perl.org/> <http://learn.perl.org/first-response>
