From: darren kirby <bulliver@...>
Date: 2006-08-09T04:31:30+09:00
Subject: Global variables considered harmful?

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Hello all,

I have a Ruby script here that acts like a regular Unix program, including=
=20
accepting a large number of command-line options/arguments. After processin=
g=20
some  are simple flags (ie: nil or 1) and some are text/numeric arguments.=
=20
Not all are required, and some must be initialized with a default value. I=
=20
have currently implemented them as globals, as their values are needed=20
anywhere in my script, from classes to functions to top-level flow control=
=20
code...

Now I know you are not supposed to rely on globals if you can help it, so I=
 am=20
trying to rewrite my script to do away with them. The problem is that there=
=20
are so many command-line switches that simply passing them to the=20
class/function(s) that need them would be unwieldy.

So what do I do? I was thinking of creating and populating a new class that=
=20
would act similar to a C 'struct', but it seems to me that this is just a=20
different way to do the exact same thing as I have now, except that I would=
=20
have to qualify the variable with a class instance making my script even mo=
re=20
verbose than it is now...so why shouldn't we use globals again? Is it simpl=
y=20
the namespace issue or are there other reasons?=20

Is one global hash better than 15 global scalars?

I am not going to list my code here because it is 500+ lines but if you wan=
t=20
to see it let me know and I will post it to the web,

Thanks for consideration,
=2Dd=20
=2D-=20
darren kirby :: Part of the problem since 1976 :: http://badcomputer.org
"...the number of UNIX installations has grown to 10, with more expected..."
=2D Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson, June 1972

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