NAME Class::SelfMethods - a Module for supporting instance-defined methods SYNOPSIS use Class::SelfMethods; package MyClass; @ISA = qw(Class::SelfMethods); use strict; sub _friendly { my $self = shift; return $self->name; } package main; no strict; my $foo = MyClass->new( name => 'foo' ); my $bar = MyClass->new( name => 'bar', friendly => 'Bar'); my $bas = MyClass->new( name => 'bas', friendly => sub { my $self = shift; return ucfirst($self->_friendly); } ); print $foo->friendly, "\n"; print $bar->friendly, "\n"; print $bas->friendly, "\n"; $bas->friendly_SET('a reset friendly'); print $bas->friendly, "\n"; $bas->friendly_SET( sub { my $self = shift; return uc($self->_friendly) }); print $bas->friendly, "\n"; $bas->friendly_CLEAR; print $bas->friendly, "\n"; DESCRIPTION Development of this module has largely lapsed due to the superior performance and feature set of "Class::Prototyped". If you haven't written code that depends upon "Class::SelfMethods", I strongly urge you to look at "Class::Prototyped" first. "Class::SelfMethods" merges some features of other Object Oriented languages to build a system for implementing more flexible objects than is provided by default in Perl. The core features I was looking for when I wrote "Class::SelfMethods" were: Class-based inheritance hierarchy I wanted to retain Perl's normal class-based inheritance hierarchy rather than to write (or use) a completely prototype based system. If you are looking for a purely prototype based system, see Sean M. Burke's "Class::Classless". My reasoning on this is that it is easier in file based languages (as opposed to world based languages like Self) to code class based inheritance hierarchies (which are largely static) than to code object based inheritance hierarchies (since objects in such languages have a dynamicism that is not granted to classes). Instance-defined method overriding I wanted instances to be able to override their class-defined methods. In the example above, the "$bas" object has its own "friendly" method. Instance-defined methods are passed the exact same parameter list as class-defined methods. Subroutine/Attribute equivalence Borrowing from Self, I wanted to be able to treat methods and attributes similarly. For instance, in the above example the "$bar" object has an attribute "friendly", whereas the "$bas" object has a method "friendly", and the "$foo" object uses the class-defined method. The calling syntax is independent of the implementation. Parameters can even be passed in the method call and they will simply be ignored if the method is implemented by a simple attribute In addition to those core features, I (and Damian) had a wish list of additional features: Simple syntax I wanted the system to be reasonable easy to use for both implementers of classes and users of objects. Simple syntax for users is more important than simple syntax for implementers. Full support for "SUPER" type concepts I wanted instance-defined methods to be able to call the class-defined methods they replace. Support for calling methods at instantiation time In some circumstances, rather than deal with multiple inheritance it is easier to have a class-defined object method that sets up the various instance-defined methods for a given object. To support this, the "new" method allows deferred method calls to be passed in as parameters. Modifying objects post-instantiation I originally had no need for modifying objects post-instantiation, but Damian Conway thought it would be a Good Thing (TM) to support. Being so very good at these sorts of thing, he instantly came up with a good general syntax to support such. Method calls that end in a "_SET" result in the first parameter being assigned to the attribute/method. I noticed one remaining hole and added support for "_CLEAR". HOW TO Write A Class Your class should inherit from "Class::SelfMethods". The class-defined instance methods should be defined with a leading underscore and should be called without a leading underscore. Don't do anything silly like writing methods whose proper names have a leading underscore and whose definitions have two leading underscores - that's just asking for trouble. Do not, of course, make use of attributes that have leading underscores - that's also just asking for trouble. Also, do not access attributes directly (i.e. "$self->{foo}"). That will prevent people who use your class from substituting a method for an attribute. Instead, always read attributes by making the corresponding method call ("$self->foo"). If you need to call "SUPER::methodname", call "SUPER::_methodname". Create An Instance The default "new" method uses named parameters. Unless you are certifiable, you will too. To specify attributes, simply use the syntax "name => 'value'" and to specify a method use "name => sub { my $self = shift; . . . }". Note that methods and attributes are interchangeable. Modify An Instance Method calls that end in a "_SET" will result in their first parameter being assigned to the appropriate attribute/method. For instance, in the "SYNOPSIS" I use "$foo->friendly_SET" to specify both a value and a method for "friendly". Method calls that end in a "_CLEAR" will delete that attribute/method from the object. The "can" method will behave just like "UNIVERSAL::can" - it returns a code reference that will interoperate with the associated object properly using the "$obj->$coderef()" syntax. For examples of usage, see "test.pl". Installation instructions Standard module installation procedure. INTERNALS can This implementation of "can" is the heart of the system. By making "can" responsible for almost everything relating to accessing the objects, the code for deciding how to respond to the various situtations is kept in one place. In order to get major speed improvements (a factor of 2 to 3 for attribute retrieval and method calls), extensive symbol table manipulation was used to build methods on the fly that react appropriately. The three types of methods are "_SET" methods, "_CLEAR" methods, and "normal" methods. The first two are fairly straight forward as far as implementation goes. First "UNIVERSAL::can" is called to determine whether an appropriate entry has been made in the package symbol table. If not, an anonymous subroutine (actually, a closure in this case because "$func" is a lexically scoped variable defined outside the anonymous subroutine and referenced from within) is created and assigned into the package symbol table. In either case, a reference to the appropriate closure is returned (normal "can" behavior is to return a reference to the code or "undef" if the method call is not legal). The "normal" methods are somewhat trickier. The outer "if" statement exists to ensure that "can" returns "undef" for illegal method calls (remember that there may be situations where "$self->can($func)" should return false even though "UNIVERSAL::can($self, $func)" returns true). It then checks whether an appropriate entry has been made in the package symbol table. If not, it builds a closure that will do the trick. Remember that the closure could get called on an object that is in any of the four possible states - attribute, instance method, inherited method, or illegal. The closure includes the logic to test for instance methods and attributes, but if neither are present it will make the call to "_method" regardless of whether or not there is an inherited method with the proper name. It relies on "AUTOLOAD" to properly deal with unhandled "_method" calls. AUTOLOAD "AUTOLOAD" gets called the first time a given method call is made. It first strips off the package name from the function call to extract the actual function name. It then checks to see if the function name starts with an underscore. If it does, it's a failed call from the "normal" method closure, so "AUTOLOAD" calls "croak" to die with the appropriate error message. Notice that the underscore has been stripped off, so it will "die" failing to find "method". "AUTOLOAD" then calls "can", which will return a reference to the appropriate "CODE" entity if the method call is supported. At the same time, "can" puts an entry into the symbol table for "Class::SelfMethods" to support future calls to that method. "AUTOLOAD" jumps to that "CODE" entity if a valid entity was return. Otherwise, execution continues on to another "croak" call. new The "new" method supplied in "Class::SelfMethods" provides one interesting twist on an otherwise standard named parameters constructor. It strips out any passed parameters that have leading underscores and stores them away. It then creates the hash ref from the remaining parameters and blesses it appropriately. Finally, it takes the stored parameters that have leading underscores and makes the matching method calls - the key is used for the method name and the value is dereferenced to an array and passed as parameters. AUTHOR Toby Ovod-Everett, tovod-everett@alascom.att.com CREDITS Damian Conway, damian@cs.monash.edu.au Responsible for accessor methods, module name, constructive criticism and moral support. After I responded to Sean's suggestion of implementing a "can" method, Damian completely rewrote my first attempt by routing everything through "can". He also was the first to point out direct symbol table manipulation by implementing it for the "_SET" and "_CLEAR" methods. I rebutted his routing everything through "can" by doing performance testing. He agreed that the performance issues were a problem, but suggested retaining the direct symbol table for the accessor methods. It was then that the lightbulb went off and I realized that a properly written closure could be used for the normal method calls. Damian's criticisms kept me on track and from making a fool of myself, and the result is some very fast (and I hope safe:) code. I first started writing to Damian as a result of an excellent book he wrote, Object Oriented Perl. I highly recommend it - get it, read it. Sean M. Burke, sburke@netadventure.net Suggested implementing a "can" method. Sean was/is responsible for "Class::Classless". If you need a full-featured purely prototype based object system, check it out.