WeakRef::Auto - Automatically makes references weaken
This document describes WeakRef::Auto version 0.02.
use WeakRef::Auto; autoweaken my $ref; # $ref is always weaken $ref = \$var; # $ref is weak sub MyNode::new{ # ... autoweaken $self->{parent}; # parent is always weaken return $self; }
This module provides autoweaken(), which keeps references weaken.
autoweaken()
Turns $var into auto-weaken variables, and keeps the values weak references. If $var already has a reference, it is weaken on the spot.
$var can be an element of hashes or arrays.
Because the prototype of autoweaken() is "\$" (i.e. autoweakn($var) actually means &autoweaken(\$var)), you'd better load this module in compile-time, using use WeakRef::Auto directive.
"\$"
autoweakn($var)
&autoweaken(\$var)
use WeakRef::Auto
autoweaken() does not work with tied variables, because autoweaken-ness is attached to the variable, not to the value referred by the variable, and tied variables interact with their objects by values, not variables, as the following shows:
my $impl = tie my %hash, 'Tie::StdHash'; autoweaken $hash{foo}; # $hash{foo} seems autoweaken. Really? # Actually, $hash{foo} is linked to $impl->{foo} through FETCH()/STORE() methods, # but there is no way to detect the relationship.
Patches are welcome.
Perl 5.8.1 or later.
Scalar::Util for a description of weak references.
Goro Fuji <gfuji(at)cpan.org>.
Copyright (c) 2008, Goro Fuji <gfuji(at)cpan.org>. Some rights reserved.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
To install WeakRef::Auto, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm WeakRef::Auto
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install WeakRef::Auto
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.