Subroutines in Perl - Named Arguments
(Page 4 of 4 )

---

Use a hash of named arguments for any subroutine that has more than three parameters.

---

Better still, use named arguments for any subroutine that is ever likely to have more than three parameters.

Named arguments replace the need to remember an ordering (which humans are comparatively poor at) with the need to remember names (which humans are relatively good at). Names are especially advantageous when a subroutine has many optional arguments—such as flags or configuration switches—only a few of which may be needed for any particular invocation.

Named arguments should always be passed to a subroutine inside a single hash, like so:

  sub padded {
      my ($arg_ref) = @_;

      my $gap   = $arg_ref->{cols} - length $arg_ref->{text};
      my $left  = $arg_ref->{centered} ? int($gap/2) : 0;
      my $right = $gap - $left;

      return $arg_ref->{filler} x $left
             . $arg_ref->{text}
             . $arg_ref->{filler} x $right;
  }

  # and then...
  for my $line (@lines) {
      $line = padded({ text=>$line, cols=>20, centered=>1, filler=>$SPACE });
  }

As tempting as it may be, don’t pass them as a list of raw name/value pairs:

  sub padded {
      my %arg = @_;

      my $gap   = $arg{cols} - length $arg{text};
      my $left  = $arg{centered} ? int($gap/2) : 0;
      my $right = $gap - $left;

      return $arg{filler} x $left
             . $arg{text}
             . $arg{filler} x $right;
  }

  # and then...
  for my $line (@lines) {
      $line = padded( text=>$line, cols=>20, centered=>1, filler=>$SPACE );
  }

Requiring the named arguments to be specified inside a hash ensures that any mismatch, such as:

  $line = padded({text=>$line, cols=>20..21, centered=>1, filler=>$SPACE});

will be reported (usually at compile time) in the caller’s context:

  Odd number of elements in anonymous hash at demo.pl line 42

Passing those arguments as raw pairs:

  $line = padded(text=>$line, cols=>20..21, centered=>1, filler=>$SPACE);

would cause the exception to be thrown at run time, and from the line inside the subroutine where the odd number of arguments were unpacked and assigned to a hash:

  Odd number of elements in hash assignment at Text/Manip.pm line 1876

It is okay to mix positional and named arguments, if there are always one or two main arguments to the subroutine (e.g., the string thatpadded()is supposed to pad) and the remaining arguments are merely configuration options of some kind. In any case, when there are both positional arguments and named options, the unnamed positionals should come first, followed by a single reference to a hash containing the named options. For example:

  sub padded {
      my ($text, $arg_ref) = @_;

      my $gap   = $arg_ref->{cols} - length $text;
      my $left  = $arg_ref->{centered} ? int($gap/2) : 0;
      my $right = $gap - $left;

      return $arg_ref->{filler} x $left . $text . $arg_ref->{filler} x $right;
  }

  # and then...
  for my $line (@lines) {
      $line = padded( $line, {cols=>20, centered=>1, filler=>$SPACE} );
  }

Note that using this approach also has a slight advantage in maintainability: it sets the options more clearly apart from the main positional argument.

By the way, you or your team might feel that three is not the most appropriate threshold for deciding to use named arguments, but try to avoid significantly larger values of “three”. Most of the advantages of named arguments will be lost if you still have to plough through five or six positional arguments first.

Please check back next week for the continuation of this article. 

DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware.

Comments On: Subroutines in Perl

· This article is an excerpt from the book "Perl Best Practices," published by...   >>> Post your comment now!

Buy this book...

This article is excerpted from chapter nine of the book Perl Best Practices, written by Damian Conway (O'Reilly; ISBN: 0596001738). Check it out today at your favorite bookstore. Buy this book now.