NAME

fewer - use fewer units of a countable resource

VERSION

version 0.204

SYNOPSIS

  use fewer 'top level namespaces';

DESCRIPTION

As of perl5 version 10, the long-useless pragma less became a usable tool for indicating that less something could be used. For example, the user could specify that less memory should be used, and other libraries could then choose between multiple algorithms based on that choice.

In the user's program:

  use less 'memory';

  my $result = Analyzer->analyze( $large_data_set );

In the library:

  sub analyze {
    my ($self, $data) = @_;

    my $cache  = less->of('memory') ? 'disk' : 'ram';
    my $method = "analyze_with_${cache}_cache";

    return $self->$method($data);
  }

This allowed for an explosion of highly adaptive implementions, accounting for a complex matrix of "less" interactions. Unfortunately, with the introduction of new strictures in perl5 version 18, the following code will stop working:

  use strict 'English';
  use less 'filehandles';

To clarify the matter for our foreign readership, "less" is used for things which are uncounted, while "fewer" is used for counted resources.

This library corrects this error by allowing the user to write:

  use fewer 'filehandles';

Then, both of the following conditions will be true:

  if ( less->of('filehandles') ) { ... }

  if ( fewer->of('filehandles') ) { ... }

PERL VERSION

This module should work on any version of perl still receiving updates from the Perl 5 Porters. This means it should work on any version of perl released in the last two to three years. (That is, if the most recently released version is v5.40, then this module should work on both v5.40 and v5.38.)

Although it may work on older versions of perl, no guarantee is made that the minimum required version will not be increased. The version may be increased for any reason, and there is no promise that patches will be accepted to lower the minimum required perl.

AUTHOR

Ricardo SIGNES <cpan@semiotic.systems>

CONTRIBUTOR

Ricardo Signes <rjbs@semiotic.systems>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2022 by Ricardo SIGNES.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.