Tedh — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:49:48 +0000

Ok,
This is where I've got to at the moment:

@lines = ('200611','200612','200701','200702');
sub parse_date_line {
 /([0-9]{4})([0-9]{2})/;
 return ($1, $2);
}

sub group_lines_by_year {
 @ret = (); $current_group = null;
 foreach (@_) {
 ($year, $month) = parse_date_line $_;
 if ($year != $current_group) {
 $current_group = $year;
 push (@ret, "<a href\=\"\#nogo\">$year<\/a>");
 }
 push (@ret, "<a href\=\"\#thearchivecodegoeshere\">$month<\/a>");
 }
 return @ret;
 }
 foreach (group_lines_by_year(@lines)) {
 print $_ . "<br>\n";
}

I still have to see if I can integrate this with the rest of my code. Eventually this will be part of a small blog system (DaBloggo) which people will be able to download free from my site. Abhishek, you'll get listed in the credits for this (unless you don't want to be).

It's all in Beta Version at the moment - so's I can get input from others and stuff right.

cheers - Ted

Abhishek Reddy — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 09:23:41 +0000

timjpriebe;218299 wrote: As someone who programs in both Perl and PHP on a regular basis, I would have to disagree with Abhishek and agree with brady.k. I've found that for non-programmers or new programmers, PHP is much easier and simpler to pick up.

The only reason I can think of for why this can be is that documentation and support for PHP is easier to find -- including tutorials, articles and forums. However, owning the right book or searching and asking in the right places is enough to overcome that handicap for Perl.

There is very little intrinsic in either of the languages and systems that makes one easier than the other, for a newcomer. Equally, there are parts that may be harder in one or the other. I'm not even sure libraries (standard or otherwise) really count for or against either choice, as they're roughly of the same breadth and quality.

For the record, here's the function in question written in PHP:

<?php
function group_lines_by_year ($lines) {
  $ret = array(); $current_group = NULL;
  foreach ($lines as $line) {
    preg_match(\"/([0-9]{4})([0-9]{2})/\", $line, $matches);
    $year = $matches[1]; $month = $matches[2];
    if ($year != $current_group) {
      $current_group = $year;
      array_push($ret, $year);
    }
    array_push($ret, $month);
  }
  return $ret;
}
?>

It is, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same as the Perl code. I might contend that the Perl version is less verbose and more readable too, but that's a matter of taste and style.

So it's not clear that PHP is in any way advantageous here. There's no compelling reason to make such an arbitrary switch.

Tedh — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:40:13 +0000

I should have thought of that Abhishek. Thanks. I'll have to try and split that down so the year can have it's blank link and the months their code.

As for the PHP. Learning a bit of Perl does my head in at times, to begin a whole new language . . . . aaargh!

- Ted

brady.k — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 23:17:50 +0000

Sorry, I didn't mean to get everyone off topic. I just wanted to poke at Perl a little. I mentioned it because I think PHP is easier to read than Perl, and if that's the only real benefit, it's all the more reason to use it.

timjpriebe — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:21:23 +0000

As someone who programs in both Perl and PHP on a regular basis, I would have to disagree with Abhishek and agree with brady.k. I've found that for non-programmers or new programmers, PHP is much easier and simpler to pick up.

And if I had my choice, I would be programming exclusively in PHP with no Perl at all.

Abhishek Reddy — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:46:50 +0000

You don't have to print it as I gave in my example. You could do something like this:

foreach (group_lines_by_year(@lines)) {
    print "<a href=\"foo\">" . $_ . "</a><br />\n";
}

The point is, the function [incode]group_lines_by_year[/incode] returns a list, with which you can do anything you want.

brady.k;218271 wrote: (not related, but you should try PHP things would be much simpler if you didn't have to code in Perl...just a thought)

I disagree. The algorithm would be identical. Its expression in PHP -- aside from Perl's shorthand regex and special variables -- would also be nearly identifcal. The difference is negligible.

brady.k — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 07:49:51 +0000

(not related, but you should try PHP things would be much simpler if you didn't have to code in Perl...just a thought)

Tedh — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 07:20:03 +0000

Thanks Abhishek, that works great. I did a text file with several yearsmonths, read into @lines array and got a nice list.

Is there a way I can add links to each element? Your code is bit tight. I did manage line breaks like so:

print join("<br>\n", group_lines_by_year(@lines)) . "\n";

But couldn't get any further.

The end result will reside in a list that a user can click the year or the month and an action will take place. The year link will cause the months to drop down (JS and/or CSS) and the month links will open a file.

I'm more a designer than programmer, but manage to get some Perl working.

Thanks again - Ted

Abhishek Reddy — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 22:38:38 +0000

Here's a quick attempt at it. The function [incode]group_lines_by_year[/incode] takes an array of lines as you showed and returns an array of reorganised lines that you can print any way you like.

sub group_lines_by_year {
    @ret = (); $current_group = null;
    foreach (@_) {
        /([0-9]{4})([0-9]{2})/;
        ($year, $month) = ($1, $2);
        if ($year != $current_group) {
            $current_group = $year;
            push (@ret, $year);
        }
        push (@ret, $month);
    }
    return @ret;
}

@lines = ('200611','200612','200701','200702');
print join("\n", group_lines_by_year(@lines)) . "\n";

It works simply by walking through every line and checking if the date is in the "current group". If it isn't, then it updates the current group. Each year and month is collected in an array and returned.