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About this quote

What does it mean?
The autodecrement operator works predictably, not magically.
In plain terms
Autodecrement is just a regular operation.
What can you take from it?
Expect normal behavior from decrement operators.

Where it applies

  • debugging code
  • learning language syntax

Putting it to work

  • read documentation
  • avoid assumptions

Questions to consider

  • Do you rely on shortcuts without understanding them?

Another view

Some developers treat it as a mysterious shortcut.

More from Larry Wall

  1. Remember though that THERE IS NO GENERAL RULE FOR CONVERTING A LIST INTO A SCALAR.

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  2. *** The previous line contains the naughty word '$&'. if /(ibm|apple|awk)/; # :-)

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  3. Perl is designed to give you several ways to do anything, so consider picking the most readable one.

    Permalink to quote #272

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