Program Repair Shop

113

Global Lexicals

Here we pay the costs of strict without collecting the benefits

     my($each_sub, %out_subs, %left_out, $ver, $real_sub_entry_found,
        %final_out_subs, %out_subs, $separate_hash_entry_opt, $long_subname,
        @final_separate_entry_out);

Fix (a): Get rid of strict. (Don't put it in just because people say you should.)
Fix (b): Restructure the program to use better encapsulation and smaller scopes
For example, $long_subname is used only inside the elsif block
That is where it should be declared:

       } elsif ( $lib[$j]=~/^(\#+ *title *: *([\w\-\.]+))/i ) {
         my $long_subname=$1;  my $sub_name=$2; $title_found=1;

Exercise: Which of the strict effects is most valuable? Which is least valuable?

Copyright © 2002 M. J. Dominus