[11150] in Perl-Users-Digest
Perl-Users Digest, Issue: 4751 Volume: 8
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Perl-Users Digest)
Tue Jan 26 11:07:19 1999
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 99 08:01:38 -0800
From: Perl-Users Digest <Perl-Users-Request@ruby.OCE.ORST.EDU>
To: Perl-Users@ruby.OCE.ORST.EDU (Perl-Users Digest)
Perl-Users Digest Tue, 26 Jan 1999 Volume: 8 Number: 4751
Today's topics:
Re: Perl Criticism (I R A Aggie)
Re: Perl Criticism (I R A Aggie)
Re: Perl Criticism droby@copyright.com
Re: Perl Criticism droby@copyright.com
Perl HTML UI Builder <peter.rendle@ec-ltd.com>
Re: Perl update causes problems with scripts <ebohlman@netcom.com>
Perl, SQL, database programmer (London) <rupert.connelly@brunel.ac.uk>
perlcc <ishay@cpm.elex.co.il>
problem using HTTP::Headers Help! smaring@gte-es.com
Re: problem using HTTP::Headers Help! <Tony.Curtis+usenet@vcpc.univie.ac.at>
Re: Problem with dbm hash - MLDBM speed tuning <joe@laffeycomputer.com>
Re: Problem with dbm hash droby@copyright.com
Re: Problems using "or" and "chomp" (Bart Lateur)
Re: Questions about PERL (Tad McClellan)
Sorting an Array (Robert Saunders)
Re: Statistics for comp.lang.perl.misc (Tad McClellan)
Testing for group (newbie4)
using # as literal '#' in a cgi schmale@my-dejanews.com
Re: Using MS Access <woerdehoff@sdm.de>
Wnt: Simple script to search & replace through a batch <mark.c.hamlin@bt.com>
Special: Digest Administrivia (Last modified: 12 Dec 98 (Perl-Users-Digest Admin)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 09:49:57 -0500
From: fl_aggie@thepentagon.com (I R A Aggie)
Subject: Re: Perl Criticism
Message-Id: <fl_aggie-2501990949580001@aggie.coaps.fsu.edu>
In article <slrn7anuqc.r09.sholden@pgrad.cs.usyd.edu.au>,
sholden@cs.usyd.edu.au wrote:
+ The problem is that you restrict the good programmers the flexibility to
+ write good code. But you obviously don't care about this.
topmind is probably _not_ a good programmer, which is why he wants his tools
to protect him from himself.
James
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 09:44:54 -0500
From: fl_aggie@thepentagon.com (I R A Aggie)
Subject: Re: Perl Criticism
Message-Id: <fl_aggie-2501990944540001@aggie.coaps.fsu.edu>
In article <78gpsb$qfq$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, topmind@technologist.com wrote:
+ fl_aggie@thepentagon.com (I R A Aggie) wrote:
+ > topmind@technologist.com wrote:
+ > + dherriot@uk.oracle.com (Des Herriott) wrote:
+ > + > It's possible to write unmaintainable code in any language.
+ > + If I hear this flippen' MYTH
+ >
+ > Proof, please.
+ Mathematical?
Not necessarily. But something other than PROOF BY ASSERTION, which is
what the above quote is. If, say, Knuth say's its a myth, that would make
me sit up and take notice...
+ > Show me a language that makes the programmer use _useful_ variable names.
+ > Show me a language that makes the programmer use subroutines and functions.
+ > Show me a language that makes the programmer write comments as he goes
along.
+ > Show me a language that makes the programmer write a manual.
+ These are only SOME of the total different ways to abuse
+ a language.
Yes, and? in what ways do these abuses allow one to write maintainable
code?
+ Although I am not much of a Java fan, Java is much tougher to abuse than
+ Perl. There are no pointers and it is easy to tell what is
+ a function, a variable, an assignment, etc. There is also
+ less "hidden communication" between operations.
And this prevents you from writing unmaintainable code how?
+ Pascal has similar properties.
And pascal has been used in how many production products?
James
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 14:15:44 GMT
From: droby@copyright.com
Subject: Re: Perl Criticism
Message-Id: <78kim7$pi1$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
In article <slrn7aokcu.doa.dformosa@godzilla.zeta.org.au>,
dformosa@zeta.org.au (David Formosa (aka ? the Platypus)) wrote:
>
> I think yoiu missunderstand the meaning of "shortcut" with regards to
> boolean operators. Now in most langages a very simple optimisation is
> done. Basicly if the compliler/interprator works out that a logical
> espression's value can be retured without further evaluation it
> doesn't continue with the operation. This is noramly call "shortcut
> booleans".
I think they're more commonly called "short-circuit", which describes
the behavior neatly.
The problem with our junior language designer's concept here is that if you
lose the short-circuit for this neat trick, you lose the optimization that
led to its availability.
Avoiding the use of these for program flow control isn't necessarily bad, but
prevention of this use would mean evaluating the whole expression when it's
unnecessary, which is definitely a Bad Idea (tm).
I think they're very nice when used appropriately, as in the examples that
have been cited in this thread.
--
Don Roby
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 15:21:59 GMT
From: droby@copyright.com
Subject: Re: Perl Criticism
Message-Id: <78kmib$t7b$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
In article <78gpsb$qfq$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
topmind@technologist.com wrote:
> How about somebody take that cryptical signiture that
> somebody here keeps posting at the bottom and turn it
> into Pascal or Java. Let's see if they can make it
> equally confusing to reverse engineer.
>
Well, I don't know which sig you mean. There are several. I don't have
Pascal installed and don't know Java well enough to obfuscate well, but do
have a look at http://www.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=117445278 for some
obfuscated Pascal.
I'm sure with a little work, it could be made even more obtuse, but my Perl
JAPH takes priority.
--
Don Roby
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 14:22:04 -0000
From: "Peter Rendle" <peter.rendle@ec-ltd.com>
Subject: Perl HTML UI Builder
Message-Id: <917359770.14811.0.nnrp-11.c1ed45e2@news.demon.co.uk>
I am currently writing a simple perl program to front end a database (MySQL)
which contains lots of information about the users on our Unix systems. I
have successfully written the Unix side (things which happen during login
etc) stuff but I need a simple program to update the data.
In the June 1998 issue of Byte Magazine Jon Udell wrote an excellent article
about using local Web servers to support off-line browsing. After reading
this again I had an idea about using perl on NT/95 running a web server and
connecting to external data sources.
Basically using IE/Netscape/Browser as a GUI to a local perl program.
(On NT/95 you can even mess with the browser via OLE.)
My main concern is:
Does anything like this exist already??
If not comments please.
(This could be developed into a "product" similar to JBuilder - DB+DUI+other
objects dropped onto a canvas and glued together by changing simple
properties of the objects. Then click compile/run and it generates a
complete standalone perl program. Run this program and up comes IE etc
etc )
Peter
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 10:31:09 GMT
From: Eric Bohlman <ebohlman@netcom.com>
Subject: Re: Perl update causes problems with scripts
Message-Id: <ebohlmanF65x7x.MuH@netcom.com>
Kole Dunn <kole@semp.net> wrote:
: Just updated Perl on our new FreeBSD server to 5.00_502 and now all
: scripts that have open(IN, '<file.txt') or die " file won't open";
: won't work. I used the || instead of or and solved that problem,
: although now I get an error from using "chomp" and now getting some
: various other syntax errors. Anyone know the reason for this? Does the
: latest version of Perl have lots of incompatibily issues? Looked in the
: FAQs and could not find an answer.
It sounds like in the process of installation, you mucked something up
involving paths so that an old copy of Perl 4 is being found ahead of the
new version.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 14:57:59 -0000
From: "Rupert Connelly" <rupert.connelly@brunel.ac.uk>
Subject: Perl, SQL, database programmer (London)
Message-Id: <917362786.6105.0.nnrp-01.c29fdced@news.demon.co.uk>
Location
London
Start Date
ASAP - Permanent position
Salary
#17-#30k
Company
We are a small Internet publishing company set to expand rapidly. We are
looking to recruit two bright individuals over the next few months who would
like to develop further their skill sets in a fast growing company with a
collegial atmosphere. It is crucial that the individuals be able to learn
quickly and to apply themselves to a wide range of technical issues.
The Job
The post is primarily to maintain our Web server's database, focusing on
the preparation of scripts for data upload. This may include the extraction
of data from client's Web sites for inclusion in our own. Development work
would likely include the development of server side applications that
present their output on the Web. This work may well be done in conjunction
with contractors.
Skills
1-2 yrs experience of a scripting language - e.g. perl,
awk, java, c shell,vb script, tcl - Perl is the preferred language
2 yrs SQL server (very nice to have)
2 yrs HTML and Web programming especially database driven
sites (nice to have)
1 yr Visual Interdev (nice to have)
2 yrs network administration on NT server (nice to have)
1 yr VB or visual C++ (nice to have)
Action
Please write to Rupert Connelly at rconnelly@homedirectory.com attaching a
full CV and cover letter.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 13:31:37 GMT
From: SHILUV Ishay Azoulay 2801 <ishay@cpm.elex.co.il>
Subject: perlcc
Message-Id: <Pine.HPP.3.96.990126152758.5132D-100000@tlhuph48.elex.co.il>
Hi,
Does anyone know how to invoke the "perlcc" ?
Please provide few invocations if you could ?
=F8=A4=BA=B0`=B0=BA=A4=F8,=B8=B8,=F8=A4=BA=B0`=B0=BA=A4=F8,=B8=F8=A4=BA=B0`=
=B0=BA=A4=F8,=B8=B8,=F8=A4=BA=B0`=B0
Regards, Ishay
Mail_to : ishay.azoulay@telrad.co.il
=F8=A4=BA=B0`=B0=BA=A4=F8,=B8=B8,=F8=A4=BA=B0`=B0=BA=A4=F8,=B8=B8,=F8=A4=BA=
=B0`=B0=BA=A4=F8,=B8,=F8=A4=BA=B0`
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 14:53:57 GMT
From: smaring@gte-es.com
Subject: problem using HTTP::Headers Help!
Message-Id: <78kktv$rk1$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
Here is what I am trying:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use HTTP::Headers;
$h = new HTTP::Headers;
$h->header(Content_Type => 'text/html');
# old way: print "Content-type: text/html;\n\n";
print("<HTML><BODY>\n");
print("<H1>hello world</H1>\n");
print("</BODY></HTML>\n");
All I get is a malformed header error. What am
I doing wrong?
Thanks.
-Steve Maring
smaring@gte-es.com
Tampa, FL USA
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
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------------------------------
Date: 26 Jan 1999 16:09:48 +0100
From: Tony Curtis <Tony.Curtis+usenet@vcpc.univie.ac.at>
Subject: Re: problem using HTTP::Headers Help!
Message-Id: <8390eqt6ir.fsf@vcpc.univie.ac.at>
Re: problem using HTTP::Headers Help!, smaring
<smaring@gte-es.com> said:
smaring> use HTTP::Headers;
smaring> $h = new HTTP::Headers;
smaring> $h->header(Content_Type => 'text/html');
you don't print the header anywhere...
smaring> # old way: print "Content-type:
smaring> text/html;\n\n";
smaring> print("<HTML><BODY>\n"); print("<H1>hello
smaring> world</H1>\n"); print("</BODY></HTML>\n");
If you're writing CGI, you might want to consider
switching to CGI.pm, viz:
use CGI;
print header;
print start_html, h1('hello world'), end_html;
hmmmm, much nicer! :-)
hth
tony
--
Tony Curtis, Systems Manager, VCPC, | Tel +43 1 310 93 96 - 12; Fax - 13
Liechtensteinstrasse 22, A-1090 Wien. | <URI:http://www.vcpc.univie.ac.at/>
"You see? You see? Your stupid minds! | private email:
Stupid! Stupid!" ~ Eros, Plan9 fOS.| <URI:mailto:tony_curtis32@hotmail.com>
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 08:34:26 -0600
From: Joe Laffey <joe@laffeycomputer.com>
Subject: Re: Problem with dbm hash - MLDBM speed tuning
Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.4.05.9901260832120.18045-100000@tripe.laffeycomputer.com>
Somebody wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > I d/l'ed MLDBM and installed it. Seems that it won't do it. What I
> > mean by that is that it's too slow. Also creates a waste of time and
> > code. Yuck.
> >
> > There should be a way to do this in Perl without adding on slow
> > packages.
> >
>
Did you try:
use MLDBM qw(DB_File Storable);
??
That make it go MUCh faster. I haven't had any problems with speed at all.
I'm storing struct-like data records that are about 512bytes or 1K in size
each.
Joe Laffey
LAFFEY Computer Imaging
St. Louis, MO
http://www.laffeycomputer.com/
------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 13:54:29 GMT
From: droby@copyright.com
Subject: Re: Problem with dbm hash
Message-Id: <78kheg$oef$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
In article <36abd8ac.1026846043@news.coredcs.com>,
root@coredcs.com (Steve) wrote:
Seeing people programming and posting as root scares me. Have mercy. Create
a user account for yourself.
> Hello,
>
> I d/l'ed MLDBM and installed it. Seems that it won't do it. What I
> mean by that is that it's too slow. Also creates a waste of time and
> code. Yuck.
>
> There should be a way to do this in Perl without adding on slow
> packages.
>
MLDBM and Data::Dumper go through some contortions to handle many different
complex data structures, and to make the conversions that have to happen to
store and retrieve them as DBM transparent, so that it feels like your complex
data structure is really just living in the DBM.
You can roll your own logic to handle a hash of lists specifically, as that's
what you need (I did this once in Perl4, but it's not code I want to show off
;-)). But you'll have to do something similar to what happens in MLDBM
(actually Data::Dumper I think) for a hash of lists, which will amount to
doing a join on each list before storing to the DBM and a split on retrieval
from the DBM. If you don't try to make these conversions transparent it may
save some time, and will definitely save some brain-scrambling.
--
Don Roby
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 12:53:39 GMT
From: bart.lateur@skynet.be (Bart Lateur)
Subject: Re: Problems using "or" and "chomp"
Message-Id: <36adba3a.14092601@news.skynet.be>
Kole Dunn wrote:
>Just updated Perl on our new FreeBSD server to 5.00502 and now all
>scripts that have open(IN, '<file.txt') or die " file won't open";
>wont work. I used the || instead of or and solved that problem,
>although now I get an error from using "chomp". Anyone know the reason
>for this?
I'ml pretty sure you're running a Perl 4. I don't know how that could be
the case. Maybe your she-bang line points to an old install. Try
"perl -v" at the command line, or "print $[;" inside a Perl script.
"which perl" at the command line may give clues, too.
HTH,
Bart.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 08:33:05 -0600
From: tadmc@metronet.com (Tad McClellan)
Subject: Re: Questions about PERL
Message-Id: <1njk87.vn1.ln@magna.metronet.com>
Frank Siegel (NorthernSnow@worldnet.att.net) wrote:
: Can anyone give me background information
: about PERL scripting such as:
^^^^
Perl is used to refer to the language.
perl is used to refer to the compiler/interpreter.
PERL is not used.
[ snip already answered questions ]
: Is it another option for Java
It depends on which use of Java you mean.
You can use Perl where you would use a Java _application_.
The usual browsers do not run perl as they do Java _applets_.
: and/or CGI files?
Files are uninteresting. They just sit there.
I think you meant CGI programs.
You can use any programming language to write a CGI program,
but Perl is the overwhelming choice of language for
such applications.
--
Tad McClellan SGML Consulting
tadmc@metronet.com Perl programming
Fort Worth, Texas
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 15:44:40 GMT
From: robert@iminet.com (Robert Saunders)
Subject: Sorting an Array
Message-Id: <7DD9BE30A2C5E7B9.E7272C7E08975226.03A894BD4FFAF954@library-proxy.airnews.net>
I have a multifield array that I am wanting to sort.. the data would
look like this
something1|something2|juliandate|something3|
something1|something2|juliandate|something3|
something1|something2|juliandate|something3|
something1|something2|juliandate|something3|
What am wanting to do is sort the Julian Date part of the record in
accending order. I know how to do a normal sort.. but with the fields
in each record I am at a loss..
Robert Saunders
robert@iminet.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 06:53:07 -0600
From: tadmc@metronet.com (Tad McClellan)
Subject: Re: Statistics for comp.lang.perl.misc
Message-Id: <jrdk87.1n1.ln@magna.metronet.com>
Jonathan Feinberg (jdf@pobox.com) wrote:
: Greg Bacon <gbacon@cs.uah.edu> writes:
: > Top 10 Posters by Number of Posts
: > =================================
: [snip]
: > 30 40.9 ( 24.6/ 14.1/ 9.3) Jonathan Feinberg <jdf@pobox.com>
: > 28 80.9 ( 32.0/ 48.9/ 19.4) topmind@technologist.com
: I'm not sure how to feel about that.
You can now claim celebrity status too ;-)
--
Tad McClellan SGML Consulting
tadmc@metronet.com Perl programming
Fort Worth, Texas
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 18:36:32 GMT
From: newbie4@mailexcite.com (newbie4)
Subject: Testing for group
Message-Id: <787s3d$576$1@newsreader.wustl.edu>
TEST
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 12:57:03 GMT
From: schmale@my-dejanews.com
Subject: using # as literal '#' in a cgi
Message-Id: <78ke2s$lii$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
I have written a CGI script in perl and recieve input in the following manner:
http://..../cgi/test?f=index.html#mydog
now, the problem is that $ENV{QUERY_STRING} only contains:
f=index.html
when I want to have:
f=index.html#mydog
Is there anyway to accomplish this?
Thanks for any input you might have.
Michael Schmale
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 11:22:25 +0100
From: Hendrik =?iso-8859-1?Q?W=F6rdehoff?= <woerdehoff@sdm.de>
Subject: Re: Using MS Access
Message-Id: <36AD9761.E6DE6431@sdm.de>
Piyush Jain wrote:
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> Is there a way to connect to an MS Access database using Perl? I need to
> use this in a script to read from the Access database. Right now the
> cgi-bin directory is on a Unix box and from this a connection needs to
> be opened to Windows NT where the Access database resides.
First of all there is no way to read or query an Access database file
directly under UNIX. There is just no database engine implementation for
this platform.
So you need some kind of middleware to relay your queries from UNIX to
Windows. Have a look at http://www.openlinksw.com/. I tried their
product some time ago. It works quite well on Linux with DBI/DBD::ODBC
(except for some dubious segmentation faults).
The drawback is that you get another piece of software in your setup
that has to be looked after and that can cause troble.
Maybe you are better off if you use a database like mySQL on your UNIX
system. Or you dump your database in textfiles and use DBI/DBD::CSV to
access it. Or move your webserver to Windows as well.
Yours
Hendrik
Pursuant to US Code, Title 47, Chapter 5, Subchapter II, Sec. 227,
any and all unsolicited commercial E-mail sent to this address
is subject to a download and archival fee in the amount of $500
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--
Hendrik W"ordehoff |s |d &|m | software design & management
| | | | GmbH & Co. KG :
woerdehoff@sdm.de | | | | Thomas-Dehler-Str. 27 >B)
Tel/Fax (089) 63812-337/515 81737 M"unchen :
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 11:45:27 +0000
From: Mark Hamlin <mark.c.hamlin@bt.com>
Subject: Wnt: Simple script to search & replace through a batch of files
Message-Id: <36ADAAD7.6467AE40@bt.com>
Does anyone have or can point me to a good script to munch through a group of
files for a search & replace function. I'm a Perl newbie and need the above to
change an embedded url in a bunch of scripts and HTML pages on my server, and as
an exercise to figure out some more about Perl, i/o, & regexps. I've started on
the script myself but my progress is very slow and although I've already learnt
a fair amount, it will be a while before I want to put it on a live server.
Thanks,
Mark Hamlin
--
___....-----'---'-----....___
=========================================
___'---..._______...---'___
(___) _|_|_|_ (___)
\\____.-'_.---._'-.____//
~~~~'.__'---'__.'~~~~
~~~~~~~
'More speed'
Sisco
Work: mailto:mark.c.hamlin@bt.com
Personal: mailto:mark@dimitrinet.demon.co.uk
Please use you auto reply where possible to distribute to both mailboxes.
------------------------------
Date: 12 Dec 98 21:33:47 GMT (Last modified)
From: Perl-Request@ruby.oce.orst.edu (Perl-Users-Digest Admin)
Subject: Special: Digest Administrivia (Last modified: 12 Dec 98)
Message-Id: <null>
Administrivia:
Well, after 6 months, here's the answer to the quiz: what do we do about
comp.lang.perl.moderated. Answer: nothing.
]From: Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu>
]Date: 21 Sep 1998 19:53:43 -0700
]Subject: comp.lang.perl.moderated available via e-mail
]
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------------------------------
End of Perl-Users Digest V8 Issue 4751
**************************************
