History of class::makemethods
Revision history for Class::MakeMethods.
Moved get_declarations() and associated documentation from Standard module to superclass.
Developed test.pl test harness with recursive file search to fix Windows \*(L"command line too long\*(R" errors.
Moved Template::TextBuilder and Template::DiskCache into Utility:: namespace. Added support for defaults with \*(-- and -param to Standard get_declarations().
Began testing and integrating tied-value patches from Dominique Dumont.
Added method types to Evaled::Hash.
Added skeleton of a new Evaled::Hash class.
Added Emulator::mcoder and compatibility tests. Released to \s-1CPAN\s0 as Class-MakeMethods-1.009.tar.gz.
Added support for lvalue methods to Template and Template::Generic. Added a few tests to demonstrate they're working. Added an example to Docs::Examples. Added Emulator::accessors and compatibility tests. Minor documentation improvements.
Adjusted layout of test directories in another attempt to solve a MakeMaker/shell-glob issue on Windows that was preventing make test from running correctly. Removed Template::PseudoHash, since this package never really worked, as pointed out by a question from Mike Castle. Management of array-based objects can be handled by any of the existing ::Array subclasses, and support for pseudo-hashes would not provide any useful new capabilities. Added support for \*(L"Template::Universal:forward_methods -delegate\*(R" and \*(L"Template::Generic:object --soft_delegate\*(R" based on a suggestion from Peter Chen. Extended behavior of Template -subs handling to make it easy to add such functionality in the future. Released to \s-1CPAN\s0 as Class-MakeMethods-1.008.tar.gz.
Adjusted \s-1DESTROY\s0 behavior of Template::InsideOut and cleaned up documentation.
Made Template definitions automatically import their class's generic definitions, if present. This eliminates the need for Generic subclasses to explicitly redeclare every method it inherits, and should obviate the \*(L"missing declaration\*(R" problems referenced below. Updated the names of several Template subclasses, with stubs at the old names for backwards compatibility: Flyweight becomes InsideOut, Static becomes Global, and Struct becomes Array. Added Template::Inheritable and basic tests for it. Eliminated use of legacy Test.pm from remaining tests, except for MethodMaker emulation. Rearranged test directories in an effort to avoid a reported bug with the test path of t/*/*.t under Windows. Released to \s-1CPAN\s0 as Class-MakeMethods-1.007.tar.gz.
Added section to Class::MakeMethods/EXTENDING documentation based on question from Terrence Brannon.
Fixed missing declaration of Template::Hash:instance, reported via \s-1RT\s0.
Additional documentation touch-ups. Moved miscellaneous \s-1POD\s0 files into the Docs directory. Added new test scripts from Class-MethodMaker-1.08, although we don't yet pass them. In particular, I need to add support for the new method types added in 1.04: tie_scalar, tie_list, object_tie_list, object_tie_hash Also need to compare against the changes included in Class-MethodMaker-1.09 and 1.10, which don't seem to include any new test code, but do include functionality changes.
Re-integrated Template and Emulator packages; the separate distribution turned out to be a hastle rather than a convenience. However, in order to keep test scripts for each subsystem separate, I'm now using a Makefile.PL attribute to specify a two-level deep directory tree of test scripts; I hope this doesn't break on Windows... Fixed possible \*(L"use of undefined as a reference\*(R" problem in Standard::*::array method generators, reported by Jared Rhine. Tried to improve documentation, based on feedback from Jared Rhine. Expunged ReadMe.pod. Extracted method catalogs into Catalog.pod. Moved examples to new Example.pod, although that underlines how few examples there are.
Added Autoload interface. Modifed Attribute interface to add \*(L"inheritable\*(R" default logic for Maker class parameter. (Suggested by Malcolm Cook.) Fixed typo in documentation for Standard::Universal. (Spotted by Malcolm Cook.)
Released to \s-1CPAN\s0 as Class-MakeMethods-1.004.tar.gz.
Allow double-colons between package name and method generator name.
Fixed related use of undef in Standard::*:hash methods.
Adjusted Standard::*:hash methods to avoid assuming that the hashref already exists.
Added missing *_reset => clear to Template number --counter interface.
Adjusted error message in Utility::ArraySplicer
Applied small documentation corrections suggested by Adam Spiers. Added Standard::Universal:alias.
Folded \*(L"Getting Started Guide\*(R" \s-1POD\s0 into main module documentation. Renamed Utility::TakeName to Emulator. Split Template and Emulator packages into their own distributions. Please Note: This means that to fully upgrade you must retrieve all three of these files:
Class-MakeMethods-1.003.tar.gz Class-MakeMethods-Template-1.003.tar.gz Class-MakeMethods-Emulator-1.003.tar.gz
Of course, if you're not using the Template or Emulator classes, there's no need to download them...
Started bumping sub-version numbers and not using sub-sub-versions, to shorten distribution names and more closely match standard practice. Added Composite::Inheritable:hook and matching test. Added Composite->CurrentResults method to easily access, update composite method results.
Released to \s-1CPAN\s0 as v1.000.016.
Adjusted the hash and array methods in the Standard::* and Composite::* packages to properly accept a set-contents call with a single reference argument, and to return contents rather than ref in list context.
Fixed a subtle bug in a test script inherited from Class::MethodMaker: 4_Template_hash_hash_array.t and 7_MethodMaker_hash_of_lists.t both relied on \*(L"keys %hash\*(R" returning the keys in a particular order, which *almost* always worked, but caused failures on one or more Perl version/platform combinations.
Released to \s-1CPAN\s0 as v1.000.015.
Renamed Basic::Static to Basic::Global for consistency with Standard and Composite. Hopefully, there aren't many users of this module yet; please accept my apologies if this breaks your code. Eliminated \*(L"local @_ = ...\*(R", which appears to cause a scoping problem on Perl 5.6. Thanks to Adam Spiers for a thorough bug report. (See http://www.perlmonks.org/index.pl?node_id=138370 for details.) Extended Template::Generic to support \*(L"array --get_set_ref\*(R" method style requested by Adam Spiers. Various documentation tweaks, including feedback from Adam Spiers: Adjusted documentation to downplay Basic::* modules as a starting point, in favor of Standard::* ones. Trimmed out some duplicated documentation in favor of more \*(L"See L<...>\*(R" links. Adjusted documentation of *::Inheritable packages in an attempt to clarify the way in which the inheritance tree is searched for a value. Factored out common code from Standard::Inheritable and Composite::Inheritable to new module, Utility::Inheritable. Factored out common code from Standard::Hash and Standard::Array to new module, Utility::ArraySplicer. Factored out common code from Template::Universal to new module, Utility::Ref. Renamed Emulator::TakeName to Utility::TakeName (this is internal use only, so there should be no public impact).
Adjusted Template::Universal's code for _CALL_METHODS_FROM_HASH_, to ensure that method/arg pairs are called in order they were passed in.
Minor additions to documentation of various method types.
Released as v1.000.014.
Removed Makefile rule from Makefile.PL to avoid warnings when used with recent versions of ExtUtils::MakeMaker, which also define a similar rule. (Based on bug report from Ron Savage.) Fixed test failure for machines with P5.6 but no Attribute::Handlers. (Reported by Ron Savage, Jay Lawrence.) Added Template::Flyweight:string_index. (But still needs test script.) Added Standard::Universal. (But still needs test scripts.) Minor touch-ups to ReadMe and Guide documentation.
To date, this module has been circulated under several provisional names: it was originally floated as a possible version-2 rewrite of Class::MethodMaker, then renamed to Class::Methods when it forked from that project, and then briefly to Class::MethodGenerator. (Note that it can be surprisingly difficult to comply with both of these perlmodlib guidelines: \*(L"To be portable each component of a module name should be limited to 11 characters. [...] Always try to use two or more whole words.\*(R") In the end, I selected Class::MakeMethods, as it is two whole words, and is reminiscent of Class::MethodMaker without being confusing (I hope!), and I believe this issue is now settled. Standardized syntax for global options; renamed -implementation to -MakerClass and -target_class to -TargetClass. Moved $TargetClass and other context information into %CONTEXT with _context accessor. Added ForceInstall. Completed re-simplification of build directories; we're back to a single Makefile, which avoids a warning in P5.6.0. Added Attribute interface for use with P5.6 and later, based on Attribute::Handlers. Renamed \*(L"Simple\*(R" subclasses to \*(L"Basic\*(R". Added documentation and initial tests. Added Standard subclasses with parameter parsing and more powerful accessors. Modified Emulator::Struct to use Standard::* methods. Found struct test from P5.7, and added auto_init functionality to match. Added Composite::* subclasses. Added Emulator::AccessorFast. Added Class::MakeMethods::Guide with introduction and examples. Continued clean-up effort on Template documentation. Renamed Template \*(L"attributes\*(R" to \*(L"method parameters\*(R" to avoid confusion with Perl attributes. Retitled Template naming rules from \*(L"templates\*(R" to \*(L"interfaces\*(R". Changed initialization code expressions of Template::Class in hopes of P5.6.1 compatibility. (Problem reported by M Schwern.) Added 'Template::Generic:new --and_then_init' based on feedback from Jay Lawrence.
Renamed module to Class::MethodGenerator, although naming questions remain. Moved Template subclasses into Template::* namespace. Simplified build directory and makefile structure. Changed initialization code expressions of Template::PackageVar, ClassVar for P5.6.0 compatibility. (Reported by M Schwern.)
Eliminated Bundle file. Moved general documentation to cm_base. Renamed Class::Methods::Base to Class::Methods::Generator. Extracted code for Template declarations to new Class::Methods::Template module. Extracted disk-caching to new Template::DiskCache module. Moved TextBuilder into the Template:: tree. Moved _namespace_capture code to new package Class::Methods::Emulator::TakeName. Added Simple::Hash subclass.
Moved _namespace_capture and _namespace_release to Class::Methods::Base. Additional doc tweakage. Moved ReadMe documentation to Bundle::ClassMethods. Merged Extending documentation into Base. Removed spurious uses of -default => 'default' in templates. Added new ClassInherit subclass and Emulator::Inheritable. Expunged Index subclass in favor of boolean_index and string_index types on Generic. Moved Struct:builtin_isa type to new package, StructBuiltin. Refactored code templating function as Class::Methods::Base::TextBuilder.
Reversed sense of - and --, as it was in 1.000.1. Separated source files into separate directories with distinct Makefiles and test hierarchies. This should clarify the boundaries between the core method-generation code, the common constructor/accessor methods, and the various emulator and experimental packages.
Following receipt of a suggestion to fork from the maintainer of Class::MethodMaker, renamed packge from Class::MethodMaker v2.0 to Class::Methods v1.000. Adjusted documentation to reflect fork, although additional cleanup is still needed. Moved backward compatibility to Emulator::MethodMaker subclass. Added Generic -compatibility array index_* and hash_of_arrays *_last and *_set methods to match changes in Class::MethodMaker v1.02. Added Emulator::MethodMaker support for the '-static' flag. The emulator now completely satisfies the enclosed test suites, from Class::MethodMaker v0.92 and v1.02.
Moved core code and internal code to Internals.pm. MethodMaker.pm now contains only some require statements and the general user guide documentation. Moved ReadMe.pod, Changes.pod, and ToDo.pod into MethodMaker directory. Separated Catalog.pod, Extending.pod, RelatedModules.pod. Included version 1 docs as Class::Methods::OriginalDocs; minor revisions for clarity. Renamed Package subclass to PackageVar, Class to ClassVar. Added Emulation::Struct subclass. Added support for shifting targets with make( -target_class => Package, ... ). Extended ClassName subclass to handle requiring, rather than creating subclases.
Restored -sugar import option for compatibility with earlier versions. Added plural names to \*(L"Generic:hash -compatibility\*(R" to support v0.92 usage. Replaced use of substr(..., 0, 1) with ... =~ s/^-// for P5.004 compatibility; problem found by Scott Godin. Copy @_ before splicing and pushing on to it for P5.004 compatibility. Expunged duplicate lines from Generic.pm's array_of_objects; found by Ron Savage. Renamed Hash.pm's delete and exists behaviors to avoid possible run-time import conflict with Generic.pm's behaviors; failure reported by Ron Savage. Added _STATIC_ATTR_{return_value_undefined} attributes to Generic string and number to allow overrides of this functionality. Minor doc touchups and expanded examples section.
Added Universal -warn_calls modifier. Folded various pod files together into main module's inline documentation. Updated catalog of existing implementations in documentation. Added pointers to some tutorials and books which discuss Class::Methods. Standardized naming of test scripts. Can now specify default template name, via -default=>\*(L"foo\*(R".
Separated string, number, and boolean from the Generic scalar methods. Provide _disk_cache to shortcut the lengthy _interpret_text_builder process. Fixes to ClassName implementation. Change to forward methods to provide better error messages when object is empty.
Rearranged documentation into separate files in the pod/ directory. Collapsed find_target_class and make functionality into import; moved support for the old functions to the Compatibility module. Adjusted tests to generally use standard syntax, and not Compatibility hooks.
Moved commonly-accessible information to Universal. Added block{...} replacement for enhanced behavior templating. Added modifier mechanism to support -private and -protected. May need to be able to specify import ordering so that modifiers are applied in the right order. This hasn't bit me yet, but it's there. Darn.
Completed generalization of Generic methods from Static and Hash. Rewrote ClassVar and PackageVar to use Generic framework. Attribute expansion can now substitute values besides name, using *{attr}. Added _diagnostics function and documentation of all failure messages. Added \s-1SEE\s0 \s-1ALSO\s0 section to documentation, brief review of Class::* on \s-1CPAN\s0. Stumbled across Damian Conway's very nice Class::Contract module. Added Scalar and Flyweight implementations.
Rolled back change from yesterday; can still pick templates like '-java'. Allow attributes to be specified as '--foo'=>'bar' or '--'=>{foo=>'bar'} Automated caching for meta-method definition hashes. Generalized several Static and Hash interfaces into Generic templates. Added Static:array and Static:code support. Allow global -import to set default sources for templates, exprs, behaviors.
Support inheritance of templates between meta-methods with -import. Made \*(L"template\*(R" an attribute, rather than a special state variable. Allow any attribute to be specified as -foo=>'bar'. Changed selection of standard templates from '-java' to '--java'. Initial support for string-eval behaviors and code_exprs, and Generic.pm
Completed initial pass of full rewrite. Assorted cleanup of syntax and documentation. Moved Hash, Static, and Index implementations into separate packages.
Refactored subclass_name and class_registry. Folded in some misc improvements from Class::MethodMaker 1.0.
Forked from Class::MethodMaker 0.96. Substantial rewrite started Created build_meta_method and refactored many methods to use it. Added new_hash, hash_init, new_from_prototype. Extended arg format. Added -template=>behavior_name. Added support for array-of-names arguments. Performance tuning. Additional refactoring to support AutoSplit functionality. Also folded in some older changes and additions from Evolution's internal collection of MethodMaker subclasses:
Change notes from unreleased collection of extensions to Class::MethodMaker that were later folded into Class::MakeMethods:
2000/01/12 Added set_foo, clear_foo to class_var hashes. 1999/07/27 Added subclass_name. 1999/04/15 Changed class_var to use symbol table lookups, not eval "". 1999/04/05 Changed determine_once to check again if undefined. 1999/03/25 Added singleton method. 1998/09/18 Finished integration of class_registry handlers. 1998/07/31 Added class_var and classnames handlers. 1998/06/12 Added lookup handlers. 1998/05/09 Created no_op and determine_once method groups.