This and other RFCs are available on the web at http://dev.perl.org/rfc/ =head1 TITLE Rename @ARGV to @ARGS =head1 VERSION Maintainer: Nathan Wiger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 11 Aug 2000 Last-Modified: 11 Sep 2000 Mailing List: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Number: 94 Version: 2 Status: Retracted =head1 ABSTRACT Perl isn't C. Time to get over it. :-) =head1 NOTE ABOUT RETRACTION Beginner-friendly, at the expense of all the experts. Bad Idea. =head1 DESCRIPTION @ARGV is Perl's version of something like C's argv/argc. However, I would argue its naming is bad, because: 1. It isn't used like and doesn't behave like C's argv/argc in many circumstances 2. There's no $ARGC to go with it 3. It's not a word or anything close to a word 4. Perl isn't C (thank heavens!) 5. @ARGV makes little sense to people (like me) from a sh/ksh background @ARGS is a better choice for several reasons: 1. It's closer to a word and so is faster to read [1] 2. It's easier to explain and remember "Your command-line args are contained in @ARGS" 3. When you say "$var = $ARGS[2]" it's easier to glance at and tell what you're getting quickly 4. It makes it more consistent with other word-like Perl vars like $VERSION. 5. There's no expectation that it works like or should be used like C's argv/argc I don't feel this is changing something just for the sake of changing something. I think it actually helps clarify a key difference between Perl and C. However, feel free to disagree with me. Be nice. ;-) =head1 IMPLEMENTATION Change @ARGV to @ARGS. Make sure that the translator changes any code references in a person's script too. Make sure shift works on @ARGS, etc, etc. =head1 NOTES [1] This is true. I did a lot of work in cognition and artifical intelligence in college. Your brain reads words and legal word-like constructs about 3 times faster than non-words, even if there's only a one or two character difference. For example, you'd read "fleggies" much faster than "fleggitg". Kind of neat, eh? =head1 REFERENCES
