I'm sure that that could be indented more readably, but I'm scared of the awk parser.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Wall worries about making code more readable but is scared of the awk parser.
- In plain terms
- He wants better indentation but fears breaking awk parsing.
- What can you take from it?
- Readability improvements must respect the parser’s expectations.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When should you prioritize readability over parser quirks?
- How to safely reformat fragile scripts?
Another view
Over‑cautiousness can keep code unnecessarily messy.
More from Larry Wall
I know it's weird, but it does make it easier to write poetry in perl. :-)
Permalink to quote #10 It is, of course, written in Perl. Translation to C is left as an exercise for the reader. :-)
Permalink to quote #12 If you want to program in C, program in C. It's a nice language. I use it occasionally... :-)
Permalink to quote #9
Related quotes
You want it in one line? Does it have to fit in 80 columns? :-)
Larry WallLarry Wall quote #27 If you want your program to be readable, consider supplying the argument.
Larry WallLarry Wall quote #269 We toast the Lisp programmer who pens his thoughts within nests of parentheses.
Alan PerlisAlan Perlis quote #2