Index of /authors/id/T/TS/TSHOENFE/

READ ME

DESCRIPTION
      This class is designed to provide object data encapsulation, a requirement 
      of object oriented programming, and a reliable object interface.  Perl 
      has no access modifiers so encapsulation is not facilitated by the 
      language.  The Capsule module remedies that deficiency.  You need only
      inherit from this class to encapsulate your child class data.

      I make every attempt to be Perlish in the design of this class, so it is 
      designed to be easily used.  As the SYNOPSIS shows, a functional data 
      class can be created entirely devoid of implementation.

      The class provides a default constructor and automatic set and get
      methods called, 'accessors'.  The class enforces encapsulation in child 
      classes using the memory address key method (props to Damian Conway).

      Consistent with good object-oriented design, the class provides a 
      default constructor and no arguments are accepted.  Instance variables 
      are defined in a class level array in the child class and are initialized 
      to undef.

      The class uses AUTOLOAD to provide automatic accessor methods for 
      instance variables.  This is not as evil as it you may think.  Only the 
      accessors will be AUTOLOADed.  Non-accessors result in an error.  You 
      can and should provide your own accessor implementations as needed, but 
      you should follow the naming convention.  If you violate the naming 
      convention, the default accessors will exist anyway and you lose two 
      important benefits.

      First, AUTOLOADed accessors enforce a naming convention and therefore 
      a consistent interface for all child classes.  Set methods must begin 
      with 'set_'.  Get methods must begin with 'get_'.  If you chose to name 
      your accessors differently, this benefit is foregone.

      The class level hash approach used to provide encapsulation 
      unfortunately also provides opacity.  Introspective methods like 
      fetch_attributes(), to_string(), and to_string_all() are provided to 
      compensate for that.

      The class provides a usage() method which dies with the SYNOPSIS, 
      ARGUMENTS, and OPTIONS from the class POD.  Use this when the class is 
      misused.

COPYRIGHT

      Copyright (c) 2004 Todd Shoenfelt.  All rights reserved.  This program 
	  is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the 
	  same terms as Perl itself.

PRE-REQUISITES

      WeakRef.pm, Pod::Usage.pm, Data::Dumper.pm

HOW TO BUILD IT

      There's nothing to build.  It's Perl.

HOW TO INSTALL IT

      Copy the file under lib/Class.

RECENT CHANGES

      N/A.  This is the first release.

FUTURE CHANGES

      N/A.