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=head1 TITLE
Add memoize into the standard library
=head1 VERSION
Maintainer: Adam Turoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 14 Sep 2000
Last Modified: 18 Sep 2000
Mailing List: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Number: 228
Version: 2
Status: Frozen
=head1 ABSTRACT
Caching through memoization is a very useful construct. It should be a
standard module.
=head1 DESCRIPTION
Memoization is a very useful technique to transparently cache
function return values. It can be used to quickly optimize
recursive functions, or functions that take a long time to
execute (such as gethostbyname).
A version of Memoize.pm should be added into the Perl6 standard
library, and it should be added as a pragmatic module (i.e. memoize.pm).
Adding Memoize plugins (Memoize::Expire, etc.) into the standard library
is a separate discussion.
=head1 NOTES ON FREEZE
There were no real objections to including memoize.pm in the Perl6 core.
=head1 OUTSTANDING ISSUES
A few people mentioned that using memoize() as a function has some
action-at-a-distance qualities, although it is useful for caching
builtin functions such as cos() and sin().
Bart Lateur mentioned that using a sub attribute would be logical:
sub foo :memoize {
}
While this does have merit, it does raise a few issues, such as being
able to turn on various Memoize extensions (such as expiry, tied
caches, etc.). On the other hand, this syntax does have merit for
using the default set of memoize options on a sub, without any
action-at-a-distance after effects.
These problems start to deal with language issues, such as being able
to use parameterized sub attributes, and internals issues, such as
being able to find sub attributes defined and implemented in an
extension. Neither of these are within the charter of perl6-stdlib
to figure out.
=head1 MIGRATION ISSUES
None.
=head1 IMPLEMENTATION
Add memoize into the perl6 source tarball, as a pragmatic module.
The Perl6 language may allow some workarounds to be avoided, such
as using a string value to specify the function to be memoized.
=head1 REFERENCES
Memoize.pm http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=Memoize
MiniMemoize from TPJ: http://www.plover.com/~mjd/perl/MiniMemoize/memoize.html
Bart Lauter's commentary on a Perl6-ish way to memoize subs:
http://www.mail-archive.com/perl6-stdlib%40perl.org/msg00073.html
Leon Brocard's message on removing memoize's action-at-a-distance
nature: http://www.mail-archive.com/perl6-stdlib%40perl.org/msg00075.html
