Hello,
This is a new module and I am soliciting feedback before posting
it to CPAN. Suggestions for alternate names would be welcome.
Class::Methods allows module developers to quickly define object
constructor and accessor methods by reusing templates for these
common types of functions.
Class::Methods is based on Class::MethodMaker, but has been
substantially revised in order to provide a range of new features.
Although originally posted for review as a possible "version 2" of
Class::MethodMaker, the maintainer of that module subsequently
indicated that that he had different goals for future development
and suggested a fork. (Full backward compatibility is provided by
an emulator, described below.)
Class::Methods includes templates for dozens of types of constructor,
accessor, and mutator methods, ranging from from the mundane
(constructors and value accessors for hash and array slots)
to the esoteric (inheritable class data and "flyweight" accessors
with external indexes). A listing is included as ClassMethods/Catalog.pod.
Methods are generated dynamically when a module uses Class::Methods,
and installed in the calling package The code for generated methods
is eval'd once for each type, and then repeatedly bound as closures
to method-specific data for better performance.
There are a variety of related modules on CPAN; I've included a
quick review of several of these in ClassMethods/RelatedModules.pod.
In comparison, this module aims to be quite general purpose and
extensible while retaining acceptable performance characteristics.
In several cases, Class::Methods provides functionality closely
equivalent to that of an existing module, and it has been simple
to build emulation modules which act as an adaptor between the
existing interface and that provided by Class::Methods.
I have included drop-in replacements for Class::MethodMaker,
Class::Data::Inheritable, Class::Singleton, and Class::Struct, each
of which fully passes the test suite of the original module.
(Er, except that I haven't found Struct's tests yet.)
The latest distribution may be retrieved from here:
http://work.evolution.com/dist/Bundle-ClassMethods-1.0.10.tar.gz
I would be particularly interested in correcting any Perl-version
or platform dependencies, any suggestions towards improving the
documentation, or any general feedback or suggested changes.
Please send any feedback to me at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Thanks,
-Simon
