I get that AWK encourages this type of code, but I would still argue it's not really "an AWK problem". It's more of a problem of how carefully you model your in

I get that AWK encourages this type of code, but I would still argue it's not really "an AWK problem". It's more of a problem of how carefully you model your inputs. Model inputs in great detail and you can throw out a lot of invalid data, but it takes longer to get the code running. Model the input only very crudely and you're up and running quicker, but more open to broken expectations. Of course, it's way too easy to go the latter route for most programmers...