Why do Perl control statements require braces?

Question

This may look like the recent question that asked why Perl doesn\'t allow one-liners to be \"unblocked,\" but I found the answers to that question unsatisfactory because they ei

Answer 1

One reason could be that some styles dictate that you should always use braces with control structures, even for one liners, in order to avoid breaking them later, e.g.:

if (condition) 
   myObject.doSomething();
else 
   myObject.doSomethingElse();

Then someone adds something more to the first part:

if (condition)
   myObject.doSomething();
   myObject.doSomethingMore(); // Syntax error next line
else 
   myObject.doSomethingElse();

Or worse:

if (condition)
   myObject.doSomething();
else 
   myObject.doSomethingElse();
   myObject.doSomethingMore(); // Compiles, but not what you wanted.

In Perl, these kinds of mistakes are not possible, because not using braces with control structures is always a syntax error. In effect, a style decision has been enforced at the language syntax level.

Whether that is any part of the real reason, only Larry's moustache knows.