Perl definitions beginning with I

Identifier - permalink - collapse

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A legally formed name for most anything in which a computer program might be interested. Many languages (including Perl) allow identifiers that start with a letter and contain letters and digits. Perl also counts the underscore character as a valid letter. (Perl also has more complicated names, such as "qualified" names.)
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Browse Related Terms: filehandle, Filename, Link, logical operator, Path, pathname, qualified, regular file, symbolic link

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impatience - permalink - collapse

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The anger you feel when the computer is being lazy. This makes you write programs that don't just react to your needs, but actually anticipate them. Or at least that pretend to. Hence, the second great virtue of a programmer. See also "laziness" and "hubris".
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Browse Related Terms: hubris, laziness, syntactic sugar

implementation - permalink - collapse

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How a piece of code actually goes about doing its job. Users of the code should not count on implementation details staying the same unless they are part of the published "interface".
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Browse Related Terms: exec, fork, Memory, process, semaphore, shared memory, Thread

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Import - permalink - collapse

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To gain access to symbols that are exported from another module. See "use" in perlfunc.
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Browse Related Terms: deprecated modules and features, export, module, (to be) dropped modules, typemap, XS

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increment - permalink - collapse

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To increase the value of something by 1 (or by some other number, if so specified).
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Browse Related Terms: assignment, assignment operator, en passant, expression, lvalue, magical increment, rvalue, substitution

Indexing - permalink - collapse

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In olden days, the act of looking up a "key" in an actual index (such as a phone book), but now merely the act of using any kind of key or position to find the corresponding "value", even if no index is involved. Things have degenerated to the point that Perl's index function merely locates the position (index) of one string in another.
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Browse Related Terms: associative array, bucket, DBM, Hash, hash table, key, Value

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indirect filehandle - permalink - collapse

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An "expression" that evaluates to something that can be used as a "filehandle": a "string" (filehandle name), a "typeglob", a typeglob "reference", or a low-level "IO" object.
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Browse Related Terms: mortal, Patch, side effects, v-string, watch expression

indirection - permalink - collapse

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If something in a program isn't the value you're looking for but indicates where the value is, that's indirection. This can be done with either symbolic references or hard references.
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Browse Related Terms: address operator, anonymous, autovivification, Code, composer, dereference, funny character, garbage collection, hard reference, Pointer, PV, Reference, referent, soft reference, symbolic reference

indirect object - permalink - collapse

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In English grammar, a short noun phrase between a verb and its direct object indicating the beneficiary or recipient of the action. In Perl, print STDOUT "$foo "; can be understood as "verb indirect-object object" where "STDOUT" is the recipient of the print action, and "$foo" is the object being printed. Similarly, when invoking a "method", you might place the invocant between the method and its arguments:
```
 $gollum = new Pathetic::Creature "Smeagol"; give $gollum "Fisssssh!"; give $gollum "Precious!";
```
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Browse Related Terms: Attribute, bless, construct, constructor, indirect object slot, Instance, instance variable, IO, Object, operator overloading, stringification

indirect object slot - permalink - collapse

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The syntactic position falling between a method call and its arguments when using the indirect object invocation syntax. (The slot is distinguished by the absence of a comma between it and the next argument.) "STDERR" is in the indirect object slot here:
```
 print STDERR "Awake! Awake! Fear, Fire, Foes! Awake! ";
```
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Browse Related Terms: Attribute, bless, construct, constructor, indirect object, Instance, instance variable, IO, Object, operator overloading, stringification

infix - permalink - collapse

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An "operator" that comes in between its operands, such as multiplication in 24 * 7.
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Browse Related Terms: binary operator, circumfix operator, operand, postfix, prefix, relational operator, term, ternary, trinary, unary operator

Inheritance - permalink - collapse

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What you get from your ancestors, genetically or otherwise. If you happen to be a "class", your ancestors are called base classes and your descendants are called derived classes. See "single inheritance" and "multiple inheritance".
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Browse Related Terms: base class, derived class, empty subclass test, is-a, multiple inheritance, overriding, parent class, single inheritance, subclass, superclass, Tie

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Instance - permalink - collapse

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Short for "an instance of a class", meaning an "object" of that "class".
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Browse Related Terms: Attribute, bless, construct, constructor, indirect object, indirect object slot, instance variable, IO, Object, operator overloading, stringification

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instance variable - permalink - collapse

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An "attribute" of an "object"; data stored with the particular object rather than with the class as a whole.
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Browse Related Terms: Attribute, bless, construct, constructor, indirect object, indirect object slot, Instance, IO, Object, operator overloading, stringification

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integer - permalink - collapse

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A number with no fractional (decimal) part. A counting number, like 1, 2, 3, and so on, but including 0 and the negatives.
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Browse Related Terms: array, element, modulus, multidimensional array, offset, pseudohash, slice, subscript

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Interface - permalink - collapse

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The services a piece of code promises to provide forever, in contrast to its "implementation", which it should feel free to change whenever it likes.
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Browse Related Terms: directive, POD, pp, service

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interpolation - permalink - collapse

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The insertion of a scalar or list value somewhere in the middle of another value, such that it appears to have been there all along. In Perl, variable interpolation happens in double-quoted strings and patterns, and list interpolation occurs when constructing the list of values to pass to a list operator or other such construct that takes a "LIST".
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Browse Related Terms: list, list value, null list, pseudofunction, return value, scalar, scalar literal, scalar value, true, variable interpolation, Vector

interpreter - permalink - collapse

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Strictly speaking, a program that reads a second program and does what the second program says directly without turning the program into a different form first, which is what compilers do. Perl is not an interpreter by this definition, because it contains a kind of compiler that takes a program and turns it into a more executable form (syntax trees) within the perl process itself, which the Perl "run time" system then interprets.
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Browse Related Terms: C preprocessor, compilation unit, compiler, extension, Makefile, yacc

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invocant - permalink - collapse

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The agent on whose behalf a "method" is invoked. In a "class" method, the invocant is a package name. In an "instance" method, the invocant is an object reference.
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Browse Related Terms: accessor method, class, class method, destroy, destructor, dispatch, encapsulation, global destruction, Handler, invocation, method, static method

invocation - permalink - collapse

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The act of calling up a deity, daemon, program, method, subroutine, or function to get it do what you think it's supposed to do. We usually "call" subroutines but "invoke" methods, since it sounds cooler.
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Browse Related Terms: accessor method, class, class method, destroy, destructor, dispatch, encapsulation, global destruction, Handler, invocant, method, static method

ExpertGlossary

Identifier - permalink - collapse

impatience - permalink - collapse

implementation - permalink - collapse

Import - permalink - collapse

increment - permalink - collapse

Indexing - permalink - collapse

indirect filehandle - permalink - collapse

indirection - permalink - collapse

indirect object - permalink - collapse

indirect object slot - permalink - collapse

infix - permalink - collapse

Inheritance - permalink - collapse

Instance - permalink - collapse

instance variable - permalink - collapse

integer - permalink - collapse

Interface - permalink - collapse

interpolation - permalink - collapse

interpreter - permalink - collapse

invocant - permalink - collapse

invocation - permalink - collapse

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