Class::MakeMethods::Docs::RelatedModules - Survey of Class Builders http://search.cpan.org/search?mode=module&query=Class 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Please note that these comments are for basic comparison purposes only and may be incorrect or out of date.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: Is it included with Perl, or on CPAN? Is it being actively maintained? How do you go about declaring your class's methods? How are they generated and delivered? Are the objects of your class blessed hashes, or something else? Does the module provide a constructor and basic accessors? Are there specialized methods for hash-ref, array-ref, and object-ref accessors? Can you subclass the package to create new types of methods, or is there some other way to extend it? Other types of methods provided. Does Class::MakeMethods provide a drop-in replacement for this module? Other characteristics or features of note.

accessors
CPAN. Uploaded Sep 2003. I have not yet reviewed this module in detail. package MyObject; use accessors qw( foo bar baz );

Attribute::Property
CPAN. I have not yet reviewed this module in detail.

Class::Accessor
CPAN. Last update 4/01. Inherit and call function with declaration arguments Generates and installs closures Hash. Cleanly. Scalar accessors. Yes. 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. Yes, but only for the Fast variation; see Class::MakeMethods::Emulator::AccessorFast. package MyObject; @ISA = qw(Class::Accessor); MyObject->mk_accessors(qw( simple ordered mapping obj_ref ));

Class::Class
CPAN. Last update 1/00. Inherit and fill %MEMBERS hash; methods created when first object is created Generates and installs closures Hash. Yes. Constructor and various accessors. No. Usage is similar to Class::Struct: package MyObject; use Class::Class; @ISA = qw(Class::Class); %MEMBERS = ( simple => '$', ordered => '@', mapping => '%', obj_ref => 'FooObject' ); Provides a polymorph() method that is similar to Class::Method's "ClassName:class_name -require".

Class::Constructor
CPAN. Last update 11/01. Inherit and call function with declaration arguments Generates and installs closures Hash. Cleanly. Hash constructor, with bells. No. No, but possible. package MyObject; @ISA = qw(Class::Constructor); MyObject->mk_constructor( Name => 'new' );

Class::Classgen
CPAN. Last update 12/00. Pre-processor run against declaration files. Assembles and saves code file Hash. Yes. (I think.) Constructor and various accessors. No. (I think.) header: package MyObject; variables: $simple @ordered %mapping $obj_ref

Class::Contract
CPAN. Last update 5/01. Call function with declaration arguments Generates and installs closures Scalar reference with external data storage. Yes. Constructor and various accessors. Yes. (I think.) Supports pre- and post-conditions, class invariants, and other software engineering goodies. package MyObject; use Class::Contract; contract { ctor 'new'; attr 'simple' => SCALAR; attr 'ordered' => ARRAY; attr 'mapping' => HASH; attr 'obj_ref' => 'FooObject'; }

Class::Data::Inheritable
CPAN. Last update 4/00. Inherit and call function with declaration arguments Generates and installs closures Class data, with inheritance. Yes, specifically. Scalar accessors. No. Usage is similar to Class::Accessor: package MyObject; @ISA = qw(Class::Data::Inheritable); MyObject->mk_classdata(qw( simple ordered mapping obj_ref )); Yes, Class::MakeMethods::Emulator::Inheritable, passes original test suite.

Class::Delegate
CPAN. Uploaded 12/0. I have not yet reviewed this module in detail.

Class::Delegation
CPAN. Uploaded 12/01. I have not yet reviewed this module in detail.

Class::Generate
CPAN. Last update 11/00. Call function with declaration arguments Assembles and evals code string, or saves code file. Hash. Yes. Constructor and accessors (scalar, array, hash, object, object array, etc). Unknown. Handles private/protected limitations, pre and post conditions, assertions, and more. Usage is similar to Class::Struct: package MyObject; use Class::Generate; class MyObject => [ simple => '$', ordered => '@', mapping => '%', obj_ref => 'FooObject' ];

Class::Hook
CPAN. Uploaded 12/01. I have not yet reviewed this module in detail.

Class::Holon
CPAN. Experimental/Alpha release 07/2001. Hash, array, or flyweight-index. No. (I think.) Constructor and scalar accessors; flywieght objects also get scalar mutator methods. No. (I think.) I'm not sure I understand the intent of this module; perhaps future versions will make this clearer....

Class::MethodMaker
CPAN. Last update 1/01. Import, or call function, with declaration arguments Generates and installs closures Hash, Static. Yes. Constructor and various accessors. Yes. Usage is similar to Class::MakeMethods: package MyObject; use Class::MethodMaker ( new => 'new', get_set => 'simple', list => 'ordered', hash => 'mapping', object => [ 'FooObject' => 'obj_ref' ], ); Yes, Class::MakeMethods::Emulator::MethodMaker, passes original test suite.

Class::MakeMethods
CPAN. Import, or call function, with declaration arguments; or if desired, make methods on-demand with Autoload, or declare subroutines with a special Attribute. Generates and installs closures Hash, Array, Scalar, Static, Class data, others. Yes. Constructor and various accessors. Yes. 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
CPAN. Last update 7/02. Call function with declaration arguments. Generates and installs closures (I think). Hash (I think). Unknown. Constructor and various scalar and reference accessors. Unknown. I haven't yet reviewed this module closely.

Class::SelfMethods
CPAN. Last update 2/00. Inherit; methods created via AUTOLOAD Generates and installs closures (I think) Hash. Yes. Constructor and scalar/code accessors (see Comments). No. 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
Included in the standard Perl distribution. Replaces Class::Template. Call function with declaration arguments Assembles and evals code string Hash or Array No. Constructor and various accessors. No. package MyObject; use Class::Struct; struct( simple => '$', ordered => '@', mapping => '%', obj_ref => 'FooObject' ); Yes, Class::MakeMethods::Emulator::Struct.

Class::StructTemplate
CPAN. Last update 12/00. No documentation available. Unknown. Unknown.

Class::Template
CPAN. Out of date. Call function with declaration arguments (I think) Assembles and evals code string (I think) Hash. Yes. (I think.) Constructor and various accessors. No. (I think.) 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. CPAN. Last update 3/01. Unknown. Uses Class::Data::Inheritable and installs additional closures.

CodeGen::PerlBean
CPAN. Call function with declaration arguments. Generates and writes source code to a file. Hash (I think). Unknown. Constructor and various scalar and reference accessors. Unknown. I haven't yet reviewed this module closely.

HTML::Mason::MethodMaker
CPAN. Package import with declaration arguments Generates and installs closures Hash. Scalar accessors. No. use HTML::Mason::MethodMaker ( read_write => [ qw( simple ordered mapping obj_ref ) ] ); 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 Class::MakeMethods for general information about this distribution.

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. Hey! The above document had some coding errors, which are explained below: '=item' outside of any '=over' You forgot a '=back' before '=head2'