| Subject: | "use constant" Inconsistency |
| Date: | Fri, 6 Sep 2013 15:50:09 -0400 |
| To: | bug-Perl-Critic [...] rt.cpan.org |
| From: | Dan McGee <dan.p.mcgee [...] gmail.com> |
Perl::Critic 1.118 (as distributed as libperl-critic-perl with with Ubuntu
13.04) seems to contradict itself regarding the use of "use constant". A
line that assigns an arbitrary constant number to a variable produces this
warning, which includes the "constant" pragma in its recommended
alternatives:
42 is not one of the allowed literal values (0, 1, 2). Use the Readonly or
Const::Fast module *or the "constant" pragma* instead at line 13, column
31. Unnamed numeric literals make code less maintainable. (Severity: 2)
However, inserting the constant pragma as suggested turns a minor warning
into a more severe warning and splatters magenta all over my terminal:
use constant {
LUCKY_NUMBER => 42
}
Pragma "constant" used at line 13, column 1. See page 55 of PBP.
(Severity: 4)
Although I learned a lot about constants in Perl from the experience,
Perl::Critic probably shouldn't be recommending a fix that it likes even
less than the original problem.
Thanks for reading, and hope this is helpful!
Dan