NAME¶
Class::MakeMethods::Docs::RelatedModules - Survey of Class Builders
SYNOPSIS¶
http://search.cpan.org/search?mode=module&query=Class
DESCRIPTION¶
There are a variety of modules on CPAN dedicated to the purpose of generating
common constructor and accessor methods. Below, I survey several of these,
summarizing some basic features and technical approaches, and comparing them
to Class::MakeMethods and other modules.
Caution¶
Please note that these comments are for basic comparison purposes only
and may be incorrect or out of date. Please consult the documentation from
a current version of each module for more specific details. Corrections and
clarifications would by welcomed by the author at the email address below.
Points of Comparison¶
In general, I compared the following characteristics:
- Distribution
- Is it included with Perl, or on CPAN? Is it being actively
maintained?
- Usage
- How do you go about declaring your class's methods?
- Mechanism
- How are they generated and delivered?
- Instance type
- Are the objects of your class blessed hashes, or something
else?
- Core Methods
- Does the module provide a constructor and basic accessors?
Are there specialized methods for hash-ref, array-ref, and object-ref
accessors?
- Extensible
- Can you subclass the package to create new types of
methods, or is there some other way to extend it?
- Other Methods
- Other types of methods provided.
- Emulator
- Does Class::MakeMethods provide a drop-in replacement for
this module?
- Comments
- Other characteristics or features of note.
accessors¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Uploaded Sep 2003.
- Comments
- I have not yet reviewed this module in detail.
- Example
-
package MyObject;
use accessors qw( foo bar baz );
Attribute::Property¶
- Distribution
- CPAN.
- Comments
- I have not yet reviewed this module in detail.
Class::Accessor¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Last update 4/01.
- Usage
- Inherit and call function with declaration arguments
- Mechanism
- Generates and installs closures
- Instance Type
- Hash.
- Subclasses Cleanly
- Cleanly.
- Standard Methods
- Scalar accessors.
- Extensible
- Yes.
- Comments
- Accessor methods call overwritable
"self-<get(key)" and "self-<set( key,
value)" methods.
Also includes Class::Accessor::Fast, which creates direct hash keys
accessors without calling get and set methods.
- Emulator
- Yes, but only for the Fast variation; see
Class::MakeMethods::Emulator::AccessorFast.
- Example
-
package MyObject;
@ISA = qw(Class::Accessor);
MyObject->mk_accessors(qw( simple ordered mapping obj_ref ));
Class::Class¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Last update 1/00.
- Usage
- Inherit and fill %MEMBERS hash; methods created when first
object is created
- Mechanism
- Generates and installs closures
- Instance Type
- Hash.
- Subclasses Cleanly
- Yes.
- Standard Methods
- Constructor and various accessors.
- Extensible
- No.
- Example
- Usage is similar to Class::Struct:
package MyObject;
use Class::Class;
@ISA = qw(Class::Class);
%MEMBERS = (
simple => '$',
ordered => '@',
mapping => '%',
obj_ref => 'FooObject'
);
- Other Method Types
- Provides a polymorph() method that is similar to
Class::Method's "ClassName:class_name -require".
Class::Constructor¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Last update 11/01.
- Usage
- Inherit and call function with declaration arguments
- Mechanism
- Generates and installs closures
- Instance Type
- Hash.
- Subclasses Cleanly
- Cleanly.
- Standard Methods
- Hash constructor, with bells.
- Extensible
- No.
- Emulator
- No, but possible.
- Example
-
package MyObject;
@ISA = qw(Class::Constructor);
MyObject->mk_constructor( Name => 'new' );
Class::Classgen¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Last update 12/00.
- Usage
- Pre-processor run against declaration files.
- Mechanism
- Assembles and saves code file
- Instance Type
- Hash.
- Subclasses Cleanly
- Yes. (I think.)
- Standard Methods
- Constructor and various accessors.
- Extensible
- No. (I think.)
- Example
-
header:
package MyObject;
variables:
$simple
@ordered
%mapping
$obj_ref
Class::Contract¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Last update 5/01.
- Usage
- Call function with declaration arguments
- Mechanism
- Generates and installs closures
- Instance Type
- Scalar reference with external data storage.
- Subclasses Cleanly
- Yes.
- Standard Methods
- Constructor and various accessors.
- Extensible
- Yes. (I think.)
- Comments
- Supports pre- and post-conditions, class invariants, and
other software engineering goodies.
- Example
-
package MyObject;
use Class::Contract;
contract {
ctor 'new';
attr 'simple' => SCALAR;
attr 'ordered' => ARRAY;
attr 'mapping' => HASH;
attr 'obj_ref' => 'FooObject';
}
Class::Data::Inheritable¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Last update 4/00.
- Usage
- Inherit and call function with declaration arguments
- Mechanism
- Generates and installs closures
- Instance Type
- Class data, with inheritance.
- Subclasses Cleanly
- Yes, specifically.
- Standard Methods
- Scalar accessors.
- Extensible
- No.
- Example
- Usage is similar to Class::Accessor:
package MyObject;
@ISA = qw(Class::Data::Inheritable);
MyObject->mk_classdata(qw( simple ordered mapping obj_ref ));
- Emulator
- Yes, Class::MakeMethods::Emulator::Inheritable, passes
original test suite.
Class::Delegate¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Uploaded 12/0.
- Comments
- I have not yet reviewed this module in detail.
Class::Delegation¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Uploaded 12/01.
- Comments
- I have not yet reviewed this module in detail.
Class::Generate¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Last update 11/00.
- Usage
- Call function with declaration arguments
- Mechanism
- Assembles and evals code string, or saves code file.
- Instance Type
- Hash.
- Subclasses Cleanly
- Yes.
- Standard Methods
- Constructor and accessors (scalar, array, hash, object,
object array, etc).
- Extensible
- Unknown.
- Comments
- Handles private/protected limitations, pre and post
conditions, assertions, and more.
- Example
- Usage is similar to Class::Struct:
package MyObject;
use Class::Generate;
class MyObject => [
simple => '$',
ordered => '@',
mapping => '%',
obj_ref => 'FooObject'
];
Class::Hook¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Uploaded 12/01.
- Comments
- I have not yet reviewed this module in detail.
Class::Holon¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Experimental/Alpha release 07/2001.
- Instance Type
- Hash, array, or flyweight-index.
- Subclasses Cleanly
- No. (I think.)
- Standard Methods
- Constructor and scalar accessors; flywieght objects also
get scalar mutator methods.
- Extensible
- No. (I think.)
- Comments
- I'm not sure I understand the intent of this module;
perhaps future versions will make this clearer....
Class::MethodMaker¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Last update 1/01.
- Usage
- Import, or call function, with declaration arguments
- Mechanism
- Generates and installs closures
- Instance Type
- Hash, Static.
- Subclasses Cleanly
- Yes.
- Standard Methods
- Constructor and various accessors.
- Extensible
- Yes.
- Example
- Usage is similar to Class::MakeMethods:
package MyObject;
use Class::MethodMaker (
new => 'new',
get_set => 'simple',
list => 'ordered',
hash => 'mapping',
object => [ 'FooObject' => 'obj_ref' ],
);
- Emulator
- Yes, Class::MakeMethods::Emulator::MethodMaker, passes
original test suite.
Class::MakeMethods¶
- Distribution
- CPAN.
- Usage
- Import, or call function, with declaration arguments; or if
desired, make methods on-demand with Autoload, or declare subroutines with
a special Attribute.
- Mechanism
- Generates and installs closures
- Instance Type
- Hash, Array, Scalar, Static, Class data, others.
- Subclasses Cleanly
- Yes.
- Standard Methods
- Constructor and various accessors.
- Extensible
- Yes.
- Example
- Usage is similar to Class::MethodMaker:
package MyObject;
use Class::MakeMethods::Hash (
new => 'new',
scalar => 'simple',
array => 'ordered',
hash => 'mapping',
object => [ 'obj_ref', { class=>'FooObject' } ],
);
Class::Maker¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Last update 7/02.
- Usage
- Call function with declaration arguments.
- Mechanism
- Generates and installs closures (I think).
- Instance Type
- Hash (I think).
- Subclasses Cleanly
- Unknown.
- Standard Methods
- Constructor and various scalar and reference
accessors.
- Extensible
- Unknown.
- Comments
- I haven't yet reviewed this module closely.
Class::SelfMethods¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Last update 2/00.
- Usage
- Inherit; methods created via AUTOLOAD
- Mechanism
- Generates and installs closures (I think)
- Instance Type
- Hash.
- Subclasses Cleanly
- Yes.
- Standard Methods
- Constructor and scalar/code accessors (see Comments).
- Extensible
- No.
- Comments
- Individual objects may be assigned a subroutine that will
be called as a method on subsequent accesses. If an instance does not have
a value for a given accessor, looks for a method defined with a leading
underscore.
Class::Struct¶
- Distribution
- Included in the standard Perl distribution. Replaces
Class::Template.
- Usage
- Call function with declaration arguments
- Mechanism
- Assembles and evals code string
- Instance Type
- Hash or Array
- Subclasses Cleanly
- No.
- Standard Methods
- Constructor and various accessors.
- Extensible
- No.
package MyObject;
use Class::Struct;
struct(
simple => '$',
ordered => '@',
mapping => '%',
obj_ref => 'FooObject'
);
- Emulator
- Yes, Class::MakeMethods::Emulator::Struct.
Class::StructTemplate¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Last update 12/00.
No documentation available.
- Usage
- Unknown.
- Mechanism
- Unknown.
Class::Template¶
- Distribution
- CPAN. Out of date.
- Usage
- Call function with declaration arguments (I think)
- Mechanism
- Assembles and evals code string (I think)
- Instance Type
- Hash.
- Subclasses Cleanly
- Yes. (I think.)
- Standard Methods
- Constructor and various accessors.
- Extensible
- No. (I think.)
- Example
- Usage is similar to Class::Struct:
package MyObject;
use Class::Template;
members MyObject {
simple => '$',
ordered => '@',
mapping => '%',
obj_ref => 'FooObject'
};
Class::Virtual¶
Generates methods that fail with a message indicating that they were not
implemented by the subclass. (Cf. 'Template::Universal:croak -abstract'.)
Also provides a list of abstract methods that have not been implemented by a
subclass.
- Distribution
- CPAN. Last update 3/01.
- Extensible
- Unknown.
- Mechanism
- Uses Class::Data::Inheritable and installs additional
closures.
CodeGen::PerlBean¶
- Distribution
- CPAN.
- Usage
- Call function with declaration arguments.
- Mechanism
- Generates and writes source code to a file.
- Instance Type
- Hash (I think).
- Subclasses Cleanly
- Unknown.
- Standard Methods
- Constructor and various scalar and reference
accessors.
- Extensible
- Unknown.
- Comments
- I haven't yet reviewed this module closely.
HTML::Mason::MethodMaker¶
- Distribution
- CPAN.
- Usage
- Package import with declaration arguments
- Mechanism
- Generates and installs closures
- Instance Type
- Hash.
- Standard Methods
- Scalar accessors.
- Extensible
- No.
- Example
-
use HTML::Mason::MethodMaker (
read_write => [ qw( simple ordered mapping obj_ref ) ]
);
TO DO¶
The following modules are relevant but have not yet been cataloged above.
Attribute::Property¶
Class::Accessor::Chained¶
Class::Accessor::Lvalue¶
Class::Accessor::Ref¶
Class::AutoClass¶
Class::Builder¶
Class::Member¶
Class::Trigger¶
SEE ALSO¶
See Class::MakeMethods for general information about this distribution.
CREDITS AND COPYRIGHT¶
Developed By¶
M. Simon Cavalletto, simonm@cavalletto.org
Evolution Softworks, www.evoscript.org
Copyright¶
Copyright 2002 Matthew Simon Cavalletto.
Portions copyright 2000, 2001 Evolution Online Systems, Inc.
License¶
You may use, modify, and distribute this document under the same terms as
Perl.