NAME
package::compute - stop hard-coding your package names
SYNOPSIS
package Foo::Bar; # this is a hard-coded package name
use 5.010;
{
use package::compute "../Quux";
say __PACKAGE__; # says "Foo::Quux";
say __RPACKAGE__("./Xyzzy"); # says "Foo::Quux::Xyzzy";
sub hello { say __PACKAGE__ };
}
say __PACKAGE__; # says "Foo::Bar" (lexically scoped!)
Foo::Quux->hello; # says "Foo::Quux"
DESCRIPTION
This module allows you to compute package names on the fly at compile
time, rather than hard-coding them as barewords. It is the solution to the
problem (if indeed you consider it to be a problem at all) that you cannot
write this in Perl:
package $blah;
This module uses B::Hooks::Parser to accomplish its evil goals.
Using this module at all is probably a very bad idea.
Package Specification
The general syntax for specifying a package with this module is:
use package::compute EXPR;
Where EXPR is an arbitrary expression which will (caveat!) be evaluated at
compile time, and interpreted roughly the way Perl interprets package
names, with the following bonus features:
* If the package name expression is a coderef, then that coderef is
called and the return value is used instead.
* Slashes may be used to separate package name components in addition to
the usual Perl "::" and deprecated "'" package separators.
* The component "." at the start of the package name refers to the
caller. ("." elsewhere is a no-op.)
* The component ".." climbs "up" the package hierarchy.
* The component "..." climbs "up" the package hierarchy by two levels.
Et cetera.
Thus the following are all valid ways of expressing package "Foo::Bar":
###
use package::compute "Foo::Bar";
####
### Using a coderef
use package::compute sub { join q(::) qw( Foo Bar ) };
####
#### Relative package name
package Foo;
use package::compute "./Bar";
####
### Climbing the package hierarchy
package Foo::XXX;
use package::compute "../Bar";
####
### Climbing the package hierarchy twice
package Foo::XXX::YYY;
use package::compute "../../Bar";
####
### Climbing the package hierarchy twice - shortcut
package Foo::XXX::YYY;
use package::compute ".../Bar";
####
As a special case, you can also do:
use package::compute -filename;
Which will attempt to determine the package name based on the filename it
is defined in, much like `autopackage` does.
Also:
use package::compute -anon;
Will compute an "anonymous" (i.e. arbitrary) package name.
Utility Function
This module also exports a utility function:
`__RPACKAGE__($name)`
Returns a package name as a string, computed in the same way as `use
package::compute` does. An example of its use for object-oriented
code:
package MyProject;
{
use package::compute './Person';
use Moose;
has name => (is => 'ro');
}
my $bob = __RPACKAGE__('./Person')->new(name => "Robert");
As you can see, this makes it possible to avoid hard-coded references
to the MyProject::Person class.
`__RPACKAGE__` doesn't support the special `-filename` and `-anon`
options.
It is possible to import the `__RPACKAGE__` function alone, without
the package declaration magic using:
use package::compute undef;
BUGS
Please report any bugs to
<http://rt.cpan.org/Dist/Display.html?Queue=package-compute>.
SEE ALSO
autopackage, Package::Relative.
AUTHOR
Toby Inkster <tobyink@cpan.org>.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE
This software is copyright (c) 2012 by Toby Inkster.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES
THIS PACKAGE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.