[Bioperl-l] For CVS developers - potential pitfallwith"returnundef"
Rutger Vos
rvosa at sfu.ca
Tue May 30 21:58:25 UTC 2006
I've been following the perl6 mailing lists for a while now. I think
this time around it won't really take that long (one year?) for
pugs/perl6 stacks to become more than just toys. I think especially
large projects, like bioperl, will really benefit from the improved OO
implementation in perl6, so it might be of interest to at least
fantasize about it.
Chris Fields wrote:
> Ha! Or may be the 'nonexistent' bioperl-experimental. Wonder what'll
> happen once Perl6 comes to term?
>
> -CJF
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Rutger Vos [mailto:rvosa at sfu.ca]
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 4:48 PM
>> To: Chris Fields
>> Subject: Re: [Bioperl-l] For CVS developers - potential
>> pitfallwith"returnundef"
>>
>> Surely this will all sort itself out in bioperl6 ;-)
>>
>> Chris Fields wrote:
>>
>>> Agreed, though I think these changes should be implemented at some point
>>> (Conway's argument here makes sense and it is nice for Torsten to check
>>>
>> this
>>
>>> out). If proper tests are written then any changes resulting in errors
>>> should be picked up by checking the appropriate test suite, though I
>>>
>> know it
>>
>>> doesn't absolutely guarantee it. ; P
>>>
>>> Chris
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: bioperl-l-bounces at lists.open-bio.org [mailto:bioperl-l-
>>>> bounces at lists.open-bio.org] On Behalf Of Rutger Vos
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 1:53 PM
>>>> To: bioperl-l at lists.open-bio.org
>>>> Subject: Re: [Bioperl-l] For CVS developers - potential pitfallwith
>>>> "returnundef"
>>>>
>>>> Although I agree with the sentiment of following PBP, I'm not so sure
>>>> changing 'return undef' to 'return' *now* will fix any bugs without
>>>> introducing new, subtle ones.
>>>>
>>>> Chris Fields wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Torsten,
>>>>>
>>>>> Any way you can post a list of some/all of the offending lines or
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> modules?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Sounds like something to consider, but if the list is as large as you
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> say we
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> made need something (bugzilla? wiki?) to track the changes and make
>>>>>
>> sure
>>
>>>>> they pass tests; I'm sure a large majority will.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm guessing Jason would want this somewhere on the project priority
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> list or
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> bugzilla, with a link to the actual list, but I'm not sure. Maybe
>>>>>
>> start
>>
>>>> a
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> page on the wiki for proposed code changes?
>>>>>
>>>>> Chris
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: bioperl-l-bounces at lists.open-bio.org [mailto:bioperl-l-
>>>>>> bounces at lists.open-bio.org] On Behalf Of Torsten Seemann
>>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 3:19 AM
>>>>>> To: bioperl-l at lists.open-bio.org
>>>>>> Subject: [Bioperl-l] For CVS developers - potential pitfall with
>>>>>> "returnundef"
>>>>>>
>>>>>> FYI Bioperl developers:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I just audited the bioperl-live CVS and found about 450 occurrences
>>>>>>
>> of
>>
>>>>>> "return undef".
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Page 199 of "Perl Best Practices" by Damian Conway, and this URL
>>>>>> http://www.perl.com/lpt/a/2006/02/23/advanced_subroutines.html
>>>>>>
>> suggest:
>>
>>>>>> "Use return; instead of return undef; if you want to return nothing.
>>>>>>
>> If
>>
>>>>>> someone assigns the return value to an array, the latter creates an
>>>>>> array of one value (undef), which evaluates to true. The former will
>>>>>> correctly handle all contexts."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So I'm guessing at least some of these 450 occurrences *could* result
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>> in
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>> bugs and should probably be changed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Your opinion may differ :-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Dr Torsten Seemann http://www.vicbioinformatics.com
>>>>>> Victorian Bioinformatics Consortium, Monash University, Australia
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> Bioperl-l mailing list
>>>>>> Bioperl-l at lists.open-bio.org
>>>>>> http://lists.open-bio.org/mailman/listinfo/bioperl-l
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Bioperl-l mailing list
>>>>> Bioperl-l at lists.open-bio.org
>>>>> http://lists.open-bio.org/mailman/listinfo/bioperl-l
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>>> Rutger Vos, PhD. candidate
>>>> Department of Biological Sciences
>>>> Simon Fraser University
>>>> 8888 University Drive
>>>> Burnaby, BC, V5A1S6
>>>> Phone: 604-291-5625
>>>> Fax: 604-291-3496
>>>> Personal site: http://www.sfu.ca/~rvosa
>>>> FAB* lab: http://www.sfu.ca/~fabstar
>>>> Bio::Phylo: http://search.cpan.org/~rvosa/Bio-Phylo/
>>>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Bioperl-l mailing list
>>>> Bioperl-l at lists.open-bio.org
>>>> http://lists.open-bio.org/mailman/listinfo/bioperl-l
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> --
>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>> Rutger Vos, PhD. candidate
>> Department of Biological Sciences
>> Simon Fraser University
>> 8888 University Drive
>> Burnaby, BC, V5A1S6
>> Phone: 604-291-5625
>> Fax: 604-291-3496
>> Personal site: http://www.sfu.ca/~rvosa
>> FAB* lab: http://www.sfu.ca/~fabstar
>> Bio::Phylo: http://search.cpan.org/~rvosa/Bio-Phylo/
>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Rutger Vos, PhD. candidate
Department of Biological Sciences
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, BC, V5A1S6
Phone: 604-291-5625
Fax: 604-291-3496
Personal site: http://www.sfu.ca/~rvosa
FAB* lab: http://www.sfu.ca/~fabstar
Bio::Phylo: http://search.cpan.org/~rvosa/Bio-Phylo/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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