Re: [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation

-----Original Message----- 
From: James E Keenan via RT
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 2:45 AM
To: OtherRecipients of perl Ticket #132732:
Cc: perl5-porters@perl.org
Subject: [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation

>On Wed, 17 Jan 2018 02:57:55 GMT, sisyphus wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> The documentation states:
>>
>> <quote>
>> The use of => above provides necessary quoting of MODULE . If you don't
>> use
>> the fat comma (eg you don't have any ARGUMENTS), then you'll need to
>> quote
>> the MODULE.
>> </quote>
>>
>> But the "use of => above provides necessary quoting of MODULE" only if:
>> 1) strictures are not enabled
>> &&
>> 2) MODULE does not contain any occurrences of "::".

....

> 3. The problem appears to be specific to 'use strict "subs";'.  The
> following DWIM:
> #####
> use strict;
> no strict "subs";
> use if 1, POSIX => qw(:errno_h :fcntl_h);
> use if 1, Digest::SHA => qw(sha1);
> use if 1, Non::Existent, qw(foo);
> #####
> use strict;
> no strict "subs";
> use if 1, POSIX, qw(:errno_h :fcntl_h);
> use if 1, Digest::SHA, qw(sha1);
> use if 1, Non::Existent, qw(foo);
> #####
>
> So the problem is not specific to use of the fat arrow.  Indeed, the use
> of '=>' in the module's SYNOPSIS and DESCRIPTION is misleading.  So if we
> revise the documentation, we should use commas rather than fat arrows.

Yes, that's a better appraisal.
It seems the only time the fat arrow helps is when strict "subs" is
enabled - as it then allows 'use if 1, POSIX => qw(:errno_h :fcntl_h);' to
work.

So maybe the docs could just not mention the fat comma option, and specify
that the module name needs to be placed in quotes if strict "subs" is
enabled.
And then we just wait for someone to point out that you don't actually need
to quote the module name when strict subs are enabled, so long as you use
the fat comma && the module name doesn't contain "::" ;-)

> But perhaps we need more than just doc fixes.

Perhaps - though I'd personally be quite happy with just a doc fix.

Cheers,
Rob 

• [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by James E Keenan via RT
• Re: [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by sisyphus1
• Re: [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by Dan Book
• [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by James E Keenan via RT
• Re: [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by sisyphus1
• Re: [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by Dan Book
• Re: [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by Dan Book
• [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by James E Keenan via RT
• Re: [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by Abigail
• [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by James E Keenan via RT
• Re: [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by Dan Book
• [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by James E Keenan via RT
• Re: [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by Dan Book
• [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by James E Keenan via RT
• Re: [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by Dan Book
• Re: [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by James E Keenan
• Re: [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by Dan Book
• [perl #132732] use if - behaviour does not match documentation by James E Keenan via RT