A while ago on p5p Joseph Hall allowed as how he would like to have core
support for SQL via a construct like
qs/SELECT * FROM s_emp WHERE empno IN (101, 343, 573)/
I suggested that one would need to know what database handle it was acting
on, and that what made sense (to me) was to overload =~ to bind it to a
specific handle, which left open the possibility of a default handle
(maybe, the last one opened). IIRC the results would go into a hash via
something like bind_columns.
I haven't hear any more of this notion since the brief discussion, but this
seems like a good time to bring it back up. Now, I don't think the core
should be burdened with notions of SQL, but the syntax is most
appealing. Conceivably, one could come up with other niche applications
where something similar would be equally appealing.
So what about the possibility of user-defined q[a-z]// (using a letter that
hadn't already been taken), where you get to specify the actions of =~ and
probably more operators? Sounds like it has a lot in common with operator
overloading - maybe even just an extension to overload.pm?
--
Peter Scott
Pacific Systems Design Technologies
