NAME reform - Third millenium syntax for Perl 5 OOP SYNOPSIS use reform; package Class < Base; fields foo, bar, baz; sub initialize($foo, $bar, $baz) { base->initialize($foo); self->foo = $foo; self->bar = $bar; self->baz = $baz; } sub method { print "Hi there"; class->static_method(); } sub get_foo { print "Getting self->foo!"; return self->{foo}; } sub set_foo($value) { print "Setting self->foo!"; self->{foo} = $value; } DESCRIPTION This module provides a less awkward syntax for Perl 5 OOP. "reform" must be the first thing to be used in your code, even above your package declaration. Shorthand inheritance Rather than using the cumbersome "use base 'Parent'" you may write: package Child < Parent; Shorthand parameters It is no longer necessary to fish method parameters out of "@_": sub method($foo, $bar) { print "First param: $foo"; print "Second param: $bar"; } Implicit self, class and base References to the instance, the class (package) and the base class are implicitely provided as "self", "class" and "base": sub method { self->instance_method(); class->static_method(); base->super_class_method(); } Pretty field accessors You may omit the curly brackets in "self->{foo}" if you declare your field names using "fields": fields foo, bar; sub method { self->foo = "some value"; print self->foo; } You may intercept read and write access to instance fields by overwriting getter and setter methods: fields foo; sub get_foo { print "Getting foo!"; return self->{foo}; } sub set_foo($value) { print "Setting foo!"; self->{foo} = $value; } Note that you must wrap the field names in curly brackets to access the actual "self->{foo}" inside of getter and setter methods. Clean constructors All reformed packages inherit a basic constructor "new" from the "Class" package. When you need custom contructors, don't overwrite "new" - overwrite "initialize": use reform; package Amy; fields foo, bar; sub initialize($foo) { self->foo = $foo; } You may call the constructor of a base class by calling "base->initialize()". Dynamically adding field accessors When you need to dynamically add field accessors, use "self->add_field($field)": sub method { self->add_field('boo'); self->boo = 55; } Note that all objects constructed after a use of "add_field" will also bear the new accessors. You may request a list of all fields currently assigned to a class by calling "self->fields" or "class->fields"; INSTALLING This package should have come with three files: "reform.pm", "reform/implicit.pm" and "reform/Property.pm". The only somewhat exotic CPAN package you will need to run this is "Filter::Simple" . This package comes included with Perl 5.8, so you only need to act when you're running Perl 5.6. Installing Filter::Simple on Windows Open a command prompt and type: ppm install Filter ppm install Text-Balanced Now copy the document at http://search.cpan.org/src/DCONWAY/Filter-Simple-0.79/lib/Filter/Simple. pm to "c:\perl\site\lib\Filter\Simple.pm" or wherever you store your packages. Installing Filter::Simple anywhere else I guess copying "Filter::Util::Call", "Text::Balanced", "Filter::Simple" and all their prerequisites from CPAN should work. EXPORTS "self", "class", "base". BUGS Plenty I'm sure. UPDATES Will be posted to CPAN. COPYRIGHT Copyright (C) 2004 Henning Koch. All rights reserved. This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. AUTHOR Henning Koch