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Rename @ARGV to @ARGS
Maintainer: Nathan Wiger <nate@wiger.org> Date: 11 Aug 2000 Last Modified: 11 Sep 2000 Mailing List: perl6-language@perl.org Number: 94 Version: 2 Status: Retracted
Perl isn't C. Time to get over it. :-)
Beginner-friendly, at the expense of all the experts. Bad Idea.
@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. ;-)
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.
[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?