use Perl

• The Wait (Score:1)

  by chromatic (983)

  I'm waiting to see what shakes out of A12 before I do much more work on it. Very few people really understand the point of roles; I hope that Larry will explain it far better than I've been able to do.
  • Re:The Wait (Score:2)

    by Ovid (2709) on 2004.02.14 21:36 (#28463) Homepage Journal

    I don't blame you. It looks like there's a lot of potential there, but how it integrates into Perl 6 will be interesting.

    I just finished an alpha version of Class::Trait and I'm writing the docs now. I don't have a tarball uploaded, but the interface looks like this (borrowing heavily from your examples):

    package Person;
    # make them a lifeguard, but ensure that they use &Trait::Dog::swim and not
    # &Trait::LifeGuard::swim
    use Class::Trait 'Trait::LifeGuard';
    use Class::Trait 'Trait::Dog' => { explicit => 'swim' };
    
    # the dog will want a &doggie_treat, but since it's AUTOLOADed or inherited,
    # we must explicitly promise that it will be available
    Class::Trait->promise('doggie_treat');
    Class::Trait->assemble;
    
    1;
    
    package Trait::LifeGuard;
    
    sub swim {
      return Trait::LifeGuard::_swim();
    }
    
    sub save_drowning_swimmer {
      my (undef, $swimmer) = @_;
      # save the swimmer
    }
    
    1;
    
    package Trait::Dog;
    
    Class::Trait->expects('doggie_treat');
    
    sub swim {
      my ($class, $target) = @_;
      Trait::Dog::_eat($class->doggie_treat);
      # swim to $target
    }
    
    sub _eat {
      ...
    }
    
    1;

    Essentially, it boils down to traits having expectations and the primary class making promises. If the primary class does not have a given method in its symbol table (due to AUTOLOAD or inheritance), then it promises that the method will be available when called (Class::Trait->promise('doggie_treat');). A trait is expected to not make promises at the current time (that may change).

    A trait might need methods it doesn't provide, though, so it sets expectations

    package Trait::Dog;
    Class::Trait->expects('doggie_treat');

    As the primary class and traits are used, a tally of all promises, expectations, and actual methods is made. When the Class::Trait->assemble method is called, the interface is validated and flattened into the primary class.

    To resolve conflicts, you must explicitly request a given method from a trait.

    use Class::Trait 'Trait::Dog' => { explicit => 'swim' };

    All methods in a package that do not begin with an underscore (or the "import" method) are added to the list of traits to be flattened. If a trait wants a private helper method, it must call it via the fully qualified name (or a private subref).

    So far, the tests pass, but it does have a few limitations. I worked hard to make the interface as self-explanatory as possible. If you or anyone else is interested, I can provide a download link for the tarball when it's ready.

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