Commit | Line | Data |
4633a7c4 |
1 | package overload; |
2 | |
1e9bd118 |
3 | our $VERSION = '1.07'; |
b75c8c73 |
4 | |
a6006777 |
5 | sub nil {} |
6 | |
4633a7c4 |
7 | sub OVERLOAD { |
8 | $package = shift; |
9 | my %arg = @_; |
a6006777 |
10 | my ($sub, $fb); |
11 | $ {$package . "::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Register with magic by touching. |
12 | *{$package . "::()"} = \&nil; # Make it findable via fetchmethod. |
4633a7c4 |
13 | for (keys %arg) { |
a6006777 |
14 | if ($_ eq 'fallback') { |
15 | $fb = $arg{$_}; |
16 | } else { |
17 | $sub = $arg{$_}; |
18 | if (not ref $sub and $sub !~ /::/) { |
44a8e56a |
19 | $ {$package . "::(" . $_} = $sub; |
20 | $sub = \&nil; |
a6006777 |
21 | } |
22 | #print STDERR "Setting `$ {'package'}::\cO$_' to \\&`$sub'.\n"; |
23 | *{$package . "::(" . $_} = \&{ $sub }; |
24 | } |
4633a7c4 |
25 | } |
a6006777 |
26 | ${$package . "::()"} = $fb; # Make it findable too (fallback only). |
4633a7c4 |
27 | } |
28 | |
29 | sub import { |
30 | $package = (caller())[0]; |
31 | # *{$package . "::OVERLOAD"} = \&OVERLOAD; |
32 | shift; |
33 | $package->overload::OVERLOAD(@_); |
34 | } |
35 | |
36 | sub unimport { |
37 | $package = (caller())[0]; |
a6006777 |
38 | ${$package . "::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Upgrade the table |
4633a7c4 |
39 | shift; |
40 | for (@_) { |
a6006777 |
41 | if ($_ eq 'fallback') { |
42 | undef $ {$package . "::()"}; |
43 | } else { |
44 | delete $ {$package . "::"}{"(" . $_}; |
45 | } |
4633a7c4 |
46 | } |
47 | } |
48 | |
49 | sub Overloaded { |
a6006777 |
50 | my $package = shift; |
51 | $package = ref $package if ref $package; |
52 | $package->can('()'); |
4633a7c4 |
53 | } |
54 | |
44a8e56a |
55 | sub ov_method { |
56 | my $globref = shift; |
57 | return undef unless $globref; |
58 | my $sub = \&{*$globref}; |
59 | return $sub if $sub ne \&nil; |
60 | return shift->can($ {*$globref}); |
61 | } |
62 | |
4633a7c4 |
63 | sub OverloadedStringify { |
a6006777 |
64 | my $package = shift; |
65 | $package = ref $package if ref $package; |
44a8e56a |
66 | #$package->can('(""') |
ee239bfe |
67 | ov_method mycan($package, '(""'), $package |
68 | or ov_method mycan($package, '(0+'), $package |
69 | or ov_method mycan($package, '(bool'), $package |
70 | or ov_method mycan($package, '(nomethod'), $package; |
4633a7c4 |
71 | } |
72 | |
73 | sub Method { |
a6006777 |
74 | my $package = shift; |
05a4b9b1 |
75 | if(ref $package) { |
4de05ceb |
76 | local $@; |
77 | local $!; |
78 | require Scalar::Util; |
05a4b9b1 |
79 | $package = Scalar::Util::blessed($package); |
80 | return undef if !defined $package; |
81 | } |
44a8e56a |
82 | #my $meth = $package->can('(' . shift); |
83 | ov_method mycan($package, '(' . shift), $package; |
84 | #return $meth if $meth ne \&nil; |
85 | #return $ {*{$meth}}; |
4633a7c4 |
86 | } |
87 | |
88 | sub AddrRef { |
a6006777 |
89 | my $package = ref $_[0]; |
90 | return "$_[0]" unless $package; |
b3c0ec7c |
91 | |
4de05ceb |
92 | local $@; |
93 | local $!; |
94 | require Scalar::Util; |
295812e0 |
95 | my $class = Scalar::Util::blessed($_[0]); |
96 | my $class_prefix = defined($class) ? "$class=" : ""; |
97 | my $type = Scalar::Util::reftype($_[0]); |
98 | my $addr = Scalar::Util::refaddr($_[0]); |
99 | return sprintf("$class_prefix$type(0x%x)", $addr); |
4633a7c4 |
100 | } |
101 | |
1b1d102f |
102 | *StrVal = *AddrRef; |
4633a7c4 |
103 | |
44a8e56a |
104 | sub mycan { # Real can would leave stubs. |
105 | my ($package, $meth) = @_; |
e1a479c5 |
106 | |
1e9bd118 |
107 | local $@; |
108 | local $!; |
109 | require mro; |
110 | |
e1a479c5 |
111 | my $mro = mro::get_linear_isa($package); |
112 | foreach my $p (@$mro) { |
113 | my $fqmeth = $p . q{::} . $meth; |
114 | return \*{$fqmeth} if defined &{$fqmeth}; |
44a8e56a |
115 | } |
e1a479c5 |
116 | |
44a8e56a |
117 | return undef; |
118 | } |
119 | |
b3ac6de7 |
120 | %constants = ( |
9cfe5470 |
121 | 'integer' => 0x1000, # HINT_NEW_INTEGER |
122 | 'float' => 0x2000, # HINT_NEW_FLOAT |
123 | 'binary' => 0x4000, # HINT_NEW_BINARY |
124 | 'q' => 0x8000, # HINT_NEW_STRING |
125 | 'qr' => 0x10000, # HINT_NEW_RE |
b3ac6de7 |
126 | ); |
127 | |
ee239bfe |
128 | %ops = ( with_assign => "+ - * / % ** << >> x .", |
129 | assign => "+= -= *= /= %= **= <<= >>= x= .=", |
2877bd81 |
130 | num_comparison => "< <= > >= == !=", |
ee239bfe |
131 | '3way_comparison'=> "<=> cmp", |
2877bd81 |
132 | str_comparison => "lt le gt ge eq ne", |
6dd85743 |
133 | binary => '& &= | |= ^ ^=', |
ee239bfe |
134 | unary => "neg ! ~", |
135 | mutators => '++ --', |
f216259d |
136 | func => "atan2 cos sin exp abs log sqrt int", |
ee239bfe |
137 | conversion => 'bool "" 0+', |
f5284f61 |
138 | iterators => '<>', |
139 | dereferencing => '${} @{} %{} &{} *{}', |
ee239bfe |
140 | special => 'nomethod fallback ='); |
141 | |
6b82e2f5 |
142 | use warnings::register; |
b3ac6de7 |
143 | sub constant { |
144 | # Arguments: what, sub |
145 | while (@_) { |
6b82e2f5 |
146 | if (@_ == 1) { |
4498a751 |
147 | warnings::warnif ("Odd number of arguments for overload::constant"); |
6b82e2f5 |
148 | last; |
149 | } |
150 | elsif (!exists $constants {$_ [0]}) { |
4498a751 |
151 | warnings::warnif ("`$_[0]' is not an overloadable type"); |
6b82e2f5 |
152 | } |
1e70e886 |
153 | elsif (!ref $_ [1] || "$_[1]" !~ /(^|=)CODE\(0x[0-9a-f]+\)$/) { |
6b82e2f5 |
154 | # Can't use C<ref $_[1] eq "CODE"> above as code references can be |
155 | # blessed, and C<ref> would return the package the ref is blessed into. |
156 | if (warnings::enabled) { |
6b82e2f5 |
157 | $_ [1] = "undef" unless defined $_ [1]; |
4498a751 |
158 | warnings::warn ("`$_[1]' is not a code reference"); |
6b82e2f5 |
159 | } |
160 | } |
161 | else { |
162 | $^H{$_[0]} = $_[1]; |
f22a2069 |
163 | $^H |= $constants{$_[0]}; |
6b82e2f5 |
164 | } |
b3ac6de7 |
165 | shift, shift; |
166 | } |
167 | } |
168 | |
169 | sub remove_constant { |
170 | # Arguments: what, sub |
171 | while (@_) { |
172 | delete $^H{$_[0]}; |
173 | $^H &= ~ $constants{$_[0]}; |
174 | shift, shift; |
175 | } |
176 | } |
177 | |
4633a7c4 |
178 | 1; |
179 | |
180 | __END__ |
181 | |
b267980d |
182 | =head1 NAME |
4633a7c4 |
183 | |
7adf7a02 |
184 | overload - Package for overloading Perl operations |
4633a7c4 |
185 | |
186 | =head1 SYNOPSIS |
187 | |
188 | package SomeThing; |
189 | |
b267980d |
190 | use overload |
4633a7c4 |
191 | '+' => \&myadd, |
192 | '-' => \&mysub; |
193 | # etc |
194 | ... |
195 | |
196 | package main; |
197 | $a = new SomeThing 57; |
198 | $b=5+$a; |
199 | ... |
200 | if (overload::Overloaded $b) {...} |
201 | ... |
202 | $strval = overload::StrVal $b; |
203 | |
4633a7c4 |
204 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
205 | |
206 | =head2 Declaration of overloaded functions |
207 | |
208 | The compilation directive |
209 | |
210 | package Number; |
211 | use overload |
b267980d |
212 | "+" => \&add, |
4633a7c4 |
213 | "*=" => "muas"; |
214 | |
215 | declares function Number::add() for addition, and method muas() in |
216 | the "class" C<Number> (or one of its base classes) |
b267980d |
217 | for the assignment form C<*=> of multiplication. |
4633a7c4 |
218 | |
219 | Arguments of this directive come in (key, value) pairs. Legal values |
e7ea3e70 |
220 | are values legal inside a C<&{ ... }> call, so the name of a |
221 | subroutine, a reference to a subroutine, or an anonymous subroutine |
222 | will all work. Note that values specified as strings are |
223 | interpreted as methods, not subroutines. Legal keys are listed below. |
4633a7c4 |
224 | |
225 | The subroutine C<add> will be called to execute C<$a+$b> if $a |
226 | is a reference to an object blessed into the package C<Number>, or if $a is |
227 | not an object from a package with defined mathemagic addition, but $b is a |
228 | reference to a C<Number>. It can also be called in other situations, like |
229 | C<$a+=7>, or C<$a++>. See L<MAGIC AUTOGENERATION>. (Mathemagical |
230 | methods refer to methods triggered by an overloaded mathematical |
231 | operator.) |
232 | |
774d564b |
233 | Since overloading respects inheritance via the @ISA hierarchy, the |
234 | above declaration would also trigger overloading of C<+> and C<*=> in |
235 | all the packages which inherit from C<Number>. |
e7ea3e70 |
236 | |
4633a7c4 |
237 | =head2 Calling Conventions for Binary Operations |
238 | |
239 | The functions specified in the C<use overload ...> directive are called |
240 | with three (in one particular case with four, see L<Last Resort>) |
241 | arguments. If the corresponding operation is binary, then the first |
242 | two arguments are the two arguments of the operation. However, due to |
243 | general object calling conventions, the first argument should always be |
244 | an object in the package, so in the situation of C<7+$a>, the |
245 | order of the arguments is interchanged. It probably does not matter |
246 | when implementing the addition method, but whether the arguments |
247 | are reversed is vital to the subtraction method. The method can |
248 | query this information by examining the third argument, which can take |
249 | three different values: |
250 | |
251 | =over 7 |
252 | |
253 | =item FALSE |
254 | |
255 | the order of arguments is as in the current operation. |
256 | |
257 | =item TRUE |
258 | |
259 | the arguments are reversed. |
260 | |
261 | =item C<undef> |
262 | |
263 | the current operation is an assignment variant (as in |
264 | C<$a+=7>), but the usual function is called instead. This additional |
ee239bfe |
265 | information can be used to generate some optimizations. Compare |
266 | L<Calling Conventions for Mutators>. |
4633a7c4 |
267 | |
268 | =back |
269 | |
270 | =head2 Calling Conventions for Unary Operations |
271 | |
272 | Unary operation are considered binary operations with the second |
273 | argument being C<undef>. Thus the functions that overloads C<{"++"}> |
274 | is called with arguments C<($a,undef,'')> when $a++ is executed. |
275 | |
ee239bfe |
276 | =head2 Calling Conventions for Mutators |
277 | |
278 | Two types of mutators have different calling conventions: |
279 | |
88c28ceb |
280 | =over |
ee239bfe |
281 | |
282 | =item C<++> and C<--> |
283 | |
284 | The routines which implement these operators are expected to actually |
285 | I<mutate> their arguments. So, assuming that $obj is a reference to a |
286 | number, |
287 | |
288 | sub incr { my $n = $ {$_[0]}; ++$n; $_[0] = bless \$n} |
289 | |
290 | is an appropriate implementation of overloaded C<++>. Note that |
291 | |
292 | sub incr { ++$ {$_[0]} ; shift } |
293 | |
294 | is OK if used with preincrement and with postincrement. (In the case |
295 | of postincrement a copying will be performed, see L<Copy Constructor>.) |
296 | |
297 | =item C<x=> and other assignment versions |
298 | |
299 | There is nothing special about these methods. They may change the |
300 | value of their arguments, and may leave it as is. The result is going |
301 | to be assigned to the value in the left-hand-side if different from |
302 | this value. |
303 | |
f610777f |
304 | This allows for the same method to be used as overloaded C<+=> and |
ee239bfe |
305 | C<+>. Note that this is I<allowed>, but not recommended, since by the |
306 | semantic of L<"Fallback"> Perl will call the method for C<+> anyway, |
307 | if C<+=> is not overloaded. |
308 | |
309 | =back |
310 | |
d1be9408 |
311 | B<Warning.> Due to the presence of assignment versions of operations, |
b267980d |
312 | routines which may be called in assignment context may create |
313 | self-referential structures. Currently Perl will not free self-referential |
ee239bfe |
314 | structures until cycles are C<explicitly> broken. You may get problems |
315 | when traversing your structures too. |
316 | |
b267980d |
317 | Say, |
ee239bfe |
318 | |
319 | use overload '+' => sub { bless [ \$_[0], \$_[1] ] }; |
320 | |
321 | is asking for trouble, since for code C<$obj += $foo> the subroutine |
b267980d |
322 | is called as C<$obj = add($obj, $foo, undef)>, or C<$obj = [\$obj, |
ee239bfe |
323 | \$foo]>. If using such a subroutine is an important optimization, one |
324 | can overload C<+=> explicitly by a non-"optimized" version, or switch |
b267980d |
325 | to non-optimized version if C<not defined $_[2]> (see |
ee239bfe |
326 | L<Calling Conventions for Binary Operations>). |
327 | |
328 | Even if no I<explicit> assignment-variants of operators are present in |
329 | the script, they may be generated by the optimizer. Say, C<",$obj,"> or |
330 | C<',' . $obj . ','> may be both optimized to |
331 | |
332 | my $tmp = ',' . $obj; $tmp .= ','; |
333 | |
4633a7c4 |
334 | =head2 Overloadable Operations |
335 | |
ee239bfe |
336 | The following symbols can be specified in C<use overload> directive: |
4633a7c4 |
337 | |
338 | =over 5 |
339 | |
340 | =item * I<Arithmetic operations> |
341 | |
342 | "+", "+=", "-", "-=", "*", "*=", "/", "/=", "%", "%=", |
343 | "**", "**=", "<<", "<<=", ">>", ">>=", "x", "x=", ".", ".=", |
344 | |
345 | For these operations a substituted non-assignment variant can be called if |
fa8a6580 |
346 | the assignment variant is not available. Methods for operations C<+>, |
347 | C<->, C<+=>, and C<-=> can be called to automatically generate |
348 | increment and decrement methods. The operation C<-> can be used to |
4633a7c4 |
349 | autogenerate missing methods for unary minus or C<abs>. |
350 | |
ee239bfe |
351 | See L<"MAGIC AUTOGENERATION">, L<"Calling Conventions for Mutators"> and |
352 | L<"Calling Conventions for Binary Operations">) for details of these |
353 | substitutions. |
354 | |
4633a7c4 |
355 | =item * I<Comparison operations> |
356 | |
357 | "<", "<=", ">", ">=", "==", "!=", "<=>", |
358 | "lt", "le", "gt", "ge", "eq", "ne", "cmp", |
359 | |
360 | If the corresponding "spaceship" variant is available, it can be |
361 | used to substitute for the missing operation. During C<sort>ing |
362 | arrays, C<cmp> is used to compare values subject to C<use overload>. |
363 | |
364 | =item * I<Bit operations> |
365 | |
6dd85743 |
366 | "&", "&=", "^", "^=", "|", "|=", "neg", "!", "~", |
4633a7c4 |
367 | |
fa8a6580 |
368 | C<neg> stands for unary minus. If the method for C<neg> is not |
3bc6ec80 |
369 | specified, it can be autogenerated using the method for |
fa8a6580 |
370 | subtraction. If the method for C<!> is not specified, it can be |
371 | autogenerated using the methods for C<bool>, or C<"">, or C<0+>. |
4633a7c4 |
372 | |
6dd85743 |
373 | The same remarks in L<"Arithmetic operations"> about |
374 | assignment-variants and autogeneration apply for |
375 | bit operations C<"&">, C<"^">, and C<"|"> as well. |
376 | |
4633a7c4 |
377 | =item * I<Increment and decrement> |
378 | |
379 | "++", "--", |
380 | |
381 | If undefined, addition and subtraction methods can be |
382 | used instead. These operations are called both in prefix and |
383 | postfix form. |
384 | |
385 | =item * I<Transcendental functions> |
386 | |
f216259d |
387 | "atan2", "cos", "sin", "exp", "abs", "log", "sqrt", "int" |
4633a7c4 |
388 | |
389 | If C<abs> is unavailable, it can be autogenerated using methods |
1fef88e7 |
390 | for "E<lt>" or "E<lt>=E<gt>" combined with either unary minus or subtraction. |
4633a7c4 |
391 | |
f216259d |
392 | Note that traditionally the Perl function L<int> rounds to 0, thus for |
393 | floating-point-like types one should follow the same semantic. If |
394 | C<int> is unavailable, it can be autogenerated using the overloading of |
395 | C<0+>. |
396 | |
4633a7c4 |
397 | =item * I<Boolean, string and numeric conversion> |
398 | |
fa8a6580 |
399 | 'bool', '""', '0+', |
4633a7c4 |
400 | |
f5284f61 |
401 | If one or two of these operations are not overloaded, the remaining ones can |
4633a7c4 |
402 | be used instead. C<bool> is used in the flow control operators |
fa8a6580 |
403 | (like C<while>) and for the ternary C<?:> operation. These functions can |
4633a7c4 |
404 | return any arbitrary Perl value. If the corresponding operation for this value |
405 | is overloaded too, that operation will be called again with this value. |
406 | |
1554e226 |
407 | As a special case if the overload returns the object itself then it will |
408 | be used directly. An overloaded conversion returning the object is |
409 | probably a bug, because you're likely to get something that looks like |
410 | C<YourPackage=HASH(0x8172b34)>. |
411 | |
f5284f61 |
412 | =item * I<Iteration> |
413 | |
414 | "<>" |
415 | |
416 | If not overloaded, the argument will be converted to a filehandle or |
417 | glob (which may require a stringification). The same overloading |
418 | happens both for the I<read-filehandle> syntax C<E<lt>$varE<gt>> and |
419 | I<globbing> syntax C<E<lt>${var}E<gt>>. |
420 | |
54f8c773 |
421 | B<BUGS> Even in list context, the iterator is currently called only |
422 | once and with scalar context. |
423 | |
f5284f61 |
424 | =item * I<Dereferencing> |
425 | |
426 | '${}', '@{}', '%{}', '&{}', '*{}'. |
427 | |
428 | If not overloaded, the argument will be dereferenced I<as is>, thus |
429 | should be of correct type. These functions should return a reference |
430 | of correct type, or another object with overloaded dereferencing. |
431 | |
b267980d |
432 | As a special case if the overload returns the object itself then it |
433 | will be used directly (provided it is the correct type). |
434 | |
435 | The dereference operators must be specified explicitly they will not be passed to |
436 | "nomethod". |
437 | |
4633a7c4 |
438 | =item * I<Special> |
439 | |
0d863452 |
440 | "nomethod", "fallback", "=", "~~", |
4633a7c4 |
441 | |
442 | see L<SPECIAL SYMBOLS FOR C<use overload>>. |
443 | |
444 | =back |
445 | |
ee239bfe |
446 | See L<"Fallback"> for an explanation of when a missing method can be |
447 | autogenerated. |
448 | |
449 | A computer-readable form of the above table is available in the hash |
450 | %overload::ops, with values being space-separated lists of names: |
451 | |
452 | with_assign => '+ - * / % ** << >> x .', |
453 | assign => '+= -= *= /= %= **= <<= >>= x= .=', |
2877bd81 |
454 | num_comparison => '< <= > >= == !=', |
ee239bfe |
455 | '3way_comparison'=> '<=> cmp', |
2877bd81 |
456 | str_comparison => 'lt le gt ge eq ne', |
6dd85743 |
457 | binary => '& &= | |= ^ ^=', |
ee239bfe |
458 | unary => 'neg ! ~', |
459 | mutators => '++ --', |
460 | func => 'atan2 cos sin exp abs log sqrt', |
461 | conversion => 'bool "" 0+', |
f5284f61 |
462 | iterators => '<>', |
463 | dereferencing => '${} @{} %{} &{} *{}', |
ee239bfe |
464 | special => 'nomethod fallback =' |
4633a7c4 |
465 | |
e7ea3e70 |
466 | =head2 Inheritance and overloading |
467 | |
774d564b |
468 | Inheritance interacts with overloading in two ways. |
e7ea3e70 |
469 | |
88c28ceb |
470 | =over |
e7ea3e70 |
471 | |
472 | =item Strings as values of C<use overload> directive |
473 | |
774d564b |
474 | If C<value> in |
e7ea3e70 |
475 | |
476 | use overload key => value; |
477 | |
774d564b |
478 | is a string, it is interpreted as a method name. |
e7ea3e70 |
479 | |
480 | =item Overloading of an operation is inherited by derived classes |
481 | |
774d564b |
482 | Any class derived from an overloaded class is also overloaded. The |
483 | set of overloaded methods is the union of overloaded methods of all |
484 | the ancestors. If some method is overloaded in several ancestor, then |
e7ea3e70 |
485 | which description will be used is decided by the usual inheritance |
774d564b |
486 | rules: |
e7ea3e70 |
487 | |
774d564b |
488 | If C<A> inherits from C<B> and C<C> (in this order), C<B> overloads |
489 | C<+> with C<\&D::plus_sub>, and C<C> overloads C<+> by C<"plus_meth">, |
490 | then the subroutine C<D::plus_sub> will be called to implement |
491 | operation C<+> for an object in package C<A>. |
e7ea3e70 |
492 | |
493 | =back |
494 | |
774d564b |
495 | Note that since the value of the C<fallback> key is not a subroutine, |
496 | its inheritance is not governed by the above rules. In the current |
497 | implementation, the value of C<fallback> in the first overloaded |
498 | ancestor is used, but this is accidental and subject to change. |
e7ea3e70 |
499 | |
4633a7c4 |
500 | =head1 SPECIAL SYMBOLS FOR C<use overload> |
501 | |
502 | Three keys are recognized by Perl that are not covered by the above |
503 | description. |
504 | |
774d564b |
505 | =head2 Last Resort |
4633a7c4 |
506 | |
507 | C<"nomethod"> should be followed by a reference to a function of four |
508 | parameters. If defined, it is called when the overloading mechanism |
509 | cannot find a method for some operation. The first three arguments of |
510 | this function coincide with the arguments for the corresponding method if |
511 | it were found, the fourth argument is the symbol |
512 | corresponding to the missing method. If several methods are tried, |
513 | the last one is used. Say, C<1-$a> can be equivalent to |
514 | |
515 | &nomethodMethod($a,1,1,"-") |
516 | |
517 | if the pair C<"nomethod" =E<gt> "nomethodMethod"> was specified in the |
518 | C<use overload> directive. |
519 | |
b267980d |
520 | The C<"nomethod"> mechanism is I<not> used for the dereference operators |
521 | ( ${} @{} %{} &{} *{} ). |
522 | |
523 | |
4633a7c4 |
524 | If some operation cannot be resolved, and there is no function |
525 | assigned to C<"nomethod">, then an exception will be raised via die()-- |
526 | unless C<"fallback"> was specified as a key in C<use overload> directive. |
527 | |
b267980d |
528 | |
529 | =head2 Fallback |
4633a7c4 |
530 | |
531 | The key C<"fallback"> governs what to do if a method for a particular |
532 | operation is not found. Three different cases are possible depending on |
533 | the value of C<"fallback">: |
534 | |
535 | =over 16 |
536 | |
537 | =item * C<undef> |
538 | |
539 | Perl tries to use a |
540 | substituted method (see L<MAGIC AUTOGENERATION>). If this fails, it |
541 | then tries to calls C<"nomethod"> value; if missing, an exception |
542 | will be raised. |
543 | |
544 | =item * TRUE |
545 | |
546 | The same as for the C<undef> value, but no exception is raised. Instead, |
547 | it silently reverts to what it would have done were there no C<use overload> |
548 | present. |
549 | |
550 | =item * defined, but FALSE |
551 | |
552 | No autogeneration is tried. Perl tries to call |
b267980d |
553 | C<"nomethod"> value, and if this is missing, raises an exception. |
4633a7c4 |
554 | |
555 | =back |
556 | |
e7ea3e70 |
557 | B<Note.> C<"fallback"> inheritance via @ISA is not carved in stone |
558 | yet, see L<"Inheritance and overloading">. |
559 | |
5e68dedd |
560 | =head2 Smart Match |
561 | |
562 | The key C<"~~"> allows you to override the smart matching used by |
563 | the switch construct. See L<feature>. |
564 | |
4633a7c4 |
565 | =head2 Copy Constructor |
566 | |
567 | The value for C<"="> is a reference to a function with three |
568 | arguments, i.e., it looks like the other values in C<use |
569 | overload>. However, it does not overload the Perl assignment |
570 | operator. This would go against Camel hair. |
571 | |
572 | This operation is called in the situations when a mutator is applied |
573 | to a reference that shares its object with some other reference, such |
574 | as |
575 | |
b267980d |
576 | $a=$b; |
ee239bfe |
577 | ++$a; |
4633a7c4 |
578 | |
579 | To make this change $a and not change $b, a copy of C<$$a> is made, |
580 | and $a is assigned a reference to this new object. This operation is |
ee239bfe |
581 | done during execution of the C<++$a>, and not during the assignment, |
4633a7c4 |
582 | (so before the increment C<$$a> coincides with C<$$b>). This is only |
ee239bfe |
583 | done if C<++> is expressed via a method for C<'++'> or C<'+='> (or |
584 | C<nomethod>). Note that if this operation is expressed via C<'+'> |
585 | a nonmutator, i.e., as in |
4633a7c4 |
586 | |
b267980d |
587 | $a=$b; |
4633a7c4 |
588 | $a=$a+1; |
589 | |
590 | then C<$a> does not reference a new copy of C<$$a>, since $$a does not |
591 | appear as lvalue when the above code is executed. |
592 | |
593 | If the copy constructor is required during the execution of some mutator, |
594 | but a method for C<'='> was not specified, it can be autogenerated as a |
49c95d58 |
595 | string copy if the object is a plain scalar or a simple assignment if it |
596 | is not. |
4633a7c4 |
597 | |
598 | =over 5 |
599 | |
600 | =item B<Example> |
601 | |
b267980d |
602 | The actually executed code for |
4633a7c4 |
603 | |
b267980d |
604 | $a=$b; |
4633a7c4 |
605 | Something else which does not modify $a or $b.... |
606 | ++$a; |
607 | |
608 | may be |
609 | |
b267980d |
610 | $a=$b; |
4633a7c4 |
611 | Something else which does not modify $a or $b.... |
612 | $a = $a->clone(undef,""); |
613 | $a->incr(undef,""); |
614 | |
615 | if $b was mathemagical, and C<'++'> was overloaded with C<\&incr>, |
616 | C<'='> was overloaded with C<\&clone>. |
617 | |
618 | =back |
619 | |
f610777f |
620 | Same behaviour is triggered by C<$b = $a++>, which is consider a synonym for |
ee239bfe |
621 | C<$b = $a; ++$a>. |
622 | |
4633a7c4 |
623 | =head1 MAGIC AUTOGENERATION |
624 | |
625 | If a method for an operation is not found, and the value for C<"fallback"> is |
626 | TRUE or undefined, Perl tries to autogenerate a substitute method for |
627 | the missing operation based on the defined operations. Autogenerated method |
628 | substitutions are possible for the following operations: |
629 | |
630 | =over 16 |
631 | |
632 | =item I<Assignment forms of arithmetic operations> |
633 | |
634 | C<$a+=$b> can use the method for C<"+"> if the method for C<"+="> |
635 | is not defined. |
636 | |
b267980d |
637 | =item I<Conversion operations> |
4633a7c4 |
638 | |
639 | String, numeric, and boolean conversion are calculated in terms of one |
640 | another if not all of them are defined. |
641 | |
642 | =item I<Increment and decrement> |
643 | |
644 | The C<++$a> operation can be expressed in terms of C<$a+=1> or C<$a+1>, |
645 | and C<$a--> in terms of C<$a-=1> and C<$a-1>. |
646 | |
647 | =item C<abs($a)> |
648 | |
649 | can be expressed in terms of C<$aE<lt>0> and C<-$a> (or C<0-$a>). |
650 | |
651 | =item I<Unary minus> |
652 | |
653 | can be expressed in terms of subtraction. |
654 | |
3bc6ec80 |
655 | =item I<Negation> |
656 | |
657 | C<!> and C<not> can be expressed in terms of boolean conversion, or |
658 | string or numerical conversion. |
659 | |
4633a7c4 |
660 | =item I<Concatenation> |
661 | |
662 | can be expressed in terms of string conversion. |
663 | |
b267980d |
664 | =item I<Comparison operations> |
4633a7c4 |
665 | |
666 | can be expressed in terms of its "spaceship" counterpart: either |
667 | C<E<lt>=E<gt>> or C<cmp>: |
1fef88e7 |
668 | |
4633a7c4 |
669 | <, >, <=, >=, ==, != in terms of <=> |
670 | lt, gt, le, ge, eq, ne in terms of cmp |
671 | |
f5284f61 |
672 | =item I<Iterator> |
673 | |
674 | <> in terms of builtin operations |
675 | |
676 | =item I<Dereferencing> |
677 | |
678 | ${} @{} %{} &{} *{} in terms of builtin operations |
679 | |
4633a7c4 |
680 | =item I<Copy operator> |
681 | |
682 | can be expressed in terms of an assignment to the dereferenced value, if this |
49c95d58 |
683 | value is a scalar and not a reference, or simply a reference assignment |
684 | otherwise. |
4633a7c4 |
685 | |
686 | =back |
687 | |
84fc275b |
688 | =head1 Minimal set of overloaded operations |
689 | |
690 | Since some operations can be automatically generated from others, there is |
691 | a minimal set of operations that need to be overloaded in order to have |
299476e0 |
692 | the complete set of overloaded operations at one's disposal. |
693 | Of course, the autogenerated operations may not do exactly what the user |
694 | expects. See L<MAGIC AUTOGENERATION> above. The minimal set is: |
84fc275b |
695 | |
696 | + - * / % ** << >> x |
697 | <=> cmp |
698 | & | ^ ~ |
699 | atan2 cos sin exp log sqrt int |
700 | |
701 | Additionally, you need to define at least one of string, boolean or |
299476e0 |
702 | numeric conversions because any one can be used to emulate the others. |
703 | The string conversion can also be used to emulate concatenation. |
84fc275b |
704 | |
ee239bfe |
705 | =head1 Losing overloading |
4633a7c4 |
706 | |
707 | The restriction for the comparison operation is that even if, for example, |
708 | `C<cmp>' should return a blessed reference, the autogenerated `C<lt>' |
709 | function will produce only a standard logical value based on the |
710 | numerical value of the result of `C<cmp>'. In particular, a working |
711 | numeric conversion is needed in this case (possibly expressed in terms of |
712 | other conversions). |
713 | |
714 | Similarly, C<.=> and C<x=> operators lose their mathemagical properties |
715 | if the string conversion substitution is applied. |
716 | |
717 | When you chop() a mathemagical object it is promoted to a string and its |
718 | mathemagical properties are lost. The same can happen with other |
719 | operations as well. |
720 | |
721 | =head1 Run-time Overloading |
722 | |
723 | Since all C<use> directives are executed at compile-time, the only way to |
724 | change overloading during run-time is to |
725 | |
726 | eval 'use overload "+" => \&addmethod'; |
727 | |
728 | You can also use |
729 | |
730 | eval 'no overload "+", "--", "<="'; |
731 | |
732 | though the use of these constructs during run-time is questionable. |
733 | |
734 | =head1 Public functions |
735 | |
736 | Package C<overload.pm> provides the following public functions: |
737 | |
738 | =over 5 |
739 | |
740 | =item overload::StrVal(arg) |
741 | |
6a0e9e72 |
742 | Gives string value of C<arg> as in absence of stringify overloading. If you |
743 | are using this to get the address of a reference (useful for checking if two |
744 | references point to the same thing) then you may be better off using |
745 | C<Scalar::Util::refaddr()>, which is faster. |
4633a7c4 |
746 | |
747 | =item overload::Overloaded(arg) |
748 | |
749 | Returns true if C<arg> is subject to overloading of some operations. |
750 | |
751 | =item overload::Method(obj,op) |
752 | |
753 | Returns C<undef> or a reference to the method that implements C<op>. |
754 | |
755 | =back |
756 | |
b3ac6de7 |
757 | =head1 Overloading constants |
758 | |
7adf7a02 |
759 | For some applications, the Perl parser mangles constants too much. |
bfce84ec |
760 | It is possible to hook into this process via C<overload::constant()> |
7adf7a02 |
761 | and C<overload::remove_constant()> functions. |
b3ac6de7 |
762 | |
763 | These functions take a hash as an argument. The recognized keys of this hash |
7adf7a02 |
764 | are: |
b3ac6de7 |
765 | |
766 | =over 8 |
767 | |
768 | =item integer |
769 | |
770 | to overload integer constants, |
771 | |
772 | =item float |
773 | |
774 | to overload floating point constants, |
775 | |
776 | =item binary |
777 | |
778 | to overload octal and hexadecimal constants, |
779 | |
780 | =item q |
781 | |
782 | to overload C<q>-quoted strings, constant pieces of C<qq>- and C<qx>-quoted |
783 | strings and here-documents, |
784 | |
785 | =item qr |
786 | |
787 | to overload constant pieces of regular expressions. |
788 | |
789 | =back |
790 | |
791 | The corresponding values are references to functions which take three arguments: |
792 | the first one is the I<initial> string form of the constant, the second one |
b267980d |
793 | is how Perl interprets this constant, the third one is how the constant is used. |
b3ac6de7 |
794 | Note that the initial string form does not |
b267980d |
795 | contain string delimiters, and has backslashes in backslash-delimiter |
b3ac6de7 |
796 | combinations stripped (thus the value of delimiter is not relevant for |
b267980d |
797 | processing of this string). The return value of this function is how this |
b3ac6de7 |
798 | constant is going to be interpreted by Perl. The third argument is undefined |
799 | unless for overloaded C<q>- and C<qr>- constants, it is C<q> in single-quote |
800 | context (comes from strings, regular expressions, and single-quote HERE |
b267980d |
801 | documents), it is C<tr> for arguments of C<tr>/C<y> operators, |
b3ac6de7 |
802 | it is C<s> for right-hand side of C<s>-operator, and it is C<qq> otherwise. |
803 | |
804 | Since an expression C<"ab$cd,,"> is just a shortcut for C<'ab' . $cd . ',,'>, |
805 | it is expected that overloaded constant strings are equipped with reasonable |
b267980d |
806 | overloaded catenation operator, otherwise absurd results will result. |
b3ac6de7 |
807 | Similarly, negative numbers are considered as negations of positive constants. |
808 | |
809 | Note that it is probably meaningless to call the functions overload::constant() |
810 | and overload::remove_constant() from anywhere but import() and unimport() methods. |
811 | From these methods they may be called as |
812 | |
813 | sub import { |
814 | shift; |
815 | return unless @_; |
816 | die "unknown import: @_" unless @_ == 1 and $_[0] eq ':constant'; |
817 | overload::constant integer => sub {Math::BigInt->new(shift)}; |
818 | } |
819 | |
4633a7c4 |
820 | =head1 IMPLEMENTATION |
821 | |
822 | What follows is subject to change RSN. |
823 | |
e7ea3e70 |
824 | The table of methods for all operations is cached in magic for the |
825 | symbol table hash for the package. The cache is invalidated during |
826 | processing of C<use overload>, C<no overload>, new function |
827 | definitions, and changes in @ISA. However, this invalidation remains |
828 | unprocessed until the next C<bless>ing into the package. Hence if you |
829 | want to change overloading structure dynamically, you'll need an |
830 | additional (fake) C<bless>ing to update the table. |
831 | |
832 | (Every SVish thing has a magic queue, and magic is an entry in that |
833 | queue. This is how a single variable may participate in multiple |
834 | forms of magic simultaneously. For instance, environment variables |
835 | regularly have two forms at once: their %ENV magic and their taint |
836 | magic. However, the magic which implements overloading is applied to |
837 | the stashes, which are rarely used directly, thus should not slow down |
838 | Perl.) |
4633a7c4 |
839 | |
840 | If an object belongs to a package using overload, it carries a special |
841 | flag. Thus the only speed penalty during arithmetic operations without |
842 | overloading is the checking of this flag. |
843 | |
774d564b |
844 | In fact, if C<use overload> is not present, there is almost no overhead |
845 | for overloadable operations, so most programs should not suffer |
846 | measurable performance penalties. A considerable effort was made to |
847 | minimize the overhead when overload is used in some package, but the |
848 | arguments in question do not belong to packages using overload. When |
849 | in doubt, test your speed with C<use overload> and without it. So far |
850 | there have been no reports of substantial speed degradation if Perl is |
851 | compiled with optimization turned on. |
4633a7c4 |
852 | |
e7ea3e70 |
853 | There is no size penalty for data if overload is not used. The only |
854 | size penalty if overload is used in some package is that I<all> the |
855 | packages acquire a magic during the next C<bless>ing into the |
856 | package. This magic is three-words-long for packages without |
f610777f |
857 | overloading, and carries the cache table if the package is overloaded. |
4633a7c4 |
858 | |
b267980d |
859 | Copying (C<$a=$b>) is shallow; however, a one-level-deep copying is |
4633a7c4 |
860 | carried out before any operation that can imply an assignment to the |
861 | object $a (or $b) refers to, like C<$a++>. You can override this |
862 | behavior by defining your own copy constructor (see L<"Copy Constructor">). |
863 | |
864 | It is expected that arguments to methods that are not explicitly supposed |
865 | to be changed are constant (but this is not enforced). |
866 | |
ee239bfe |
867 | =head1 Metaphor clash |
868 | |
f610777f |
869 | One may wonder why the semantic of overloaded C<=> is so counter intuitive. |
b267980d |
870 | If it I<looks> counter intuitive to you, you are subject to a metaphor |
871 | clash. |
ee239bfe |
872 | |
873 | Here is a Perl object metaphor: |
874 | |
875 | I< object is a reference to blessed data> |
876 | |
877 | and an arithmetic metaphor: |
878 | |
879 | I< object is a thing by itself>. |
880 | |
881 | The I<main> problem of overloading C<=> is the fact that these metaphors |
882 | imply different actions on the assignment C<$a = $b> if $a and $b are |
883 | objects. Perl-think implies that $a becomes a reference to whatever |
884 | $b was referencing. Arithmetic-think implies that the value of "object" |
885 | $a is changed to become the value of the object $b, preserving the fact |
886 | that $a and $b are separate entities. |
887 | |
888 | The difference is not relevant in the absence of mutators. After |
889 | a Perl-way assignment an operation which mutates the data referenced by $a |
b267980d |
890 | would change the data referenced by $b too. Effectively, after |
ee239bfe |
891 | C<$a = $b> values of $a and $b become I<indistinguishable>. |
892 | |
b267980d |
893 | On the other hand, anyone who has used algebraic notation knows the |
ee239bfe |
894 | expressive power of the arithmetic metaphor. Overloading works hard |
895 | to enable this metaphor while preserving the Perlian way as far as |
d1be9408 |
896 | possible. Since it is not possible to freely mix two contradicting |
ee239bfe |
897 | metaphors, overloading allows the arithmetic way to write things I<as |
898 | far as all the mutators are called via overloaded access only>. The |
899 | way it is done is described in L<Copy Constructor>. |
900 | |
901 | If some mutator methods are directly applied to the overloaded values, |
b267980d |
902 | one may need to I<explicitly unlink> other values which references the |
ee239bfe |
903 | same value: |
904 | |
905 | $a = new Data 23; |
906 | ... |
907 | $b = $a; # $b is "linked" to $a |
908 | ... |
909 | $a = $a->clone; # Unlink $b from $a |
910 | $a->increment_by(4); |
911 | |
912 | Note that overloaded access makes this transparent: |
913 | |
914 | $a = new Data 23; |
915 | $b = $a; # $b is "linked" to $a |
916 | $a += 4; # would unlink $b automagically |
917 | |
918 | However, it would not make |
919 | |
920 | $a = new Data 23; |
921 | $a = 4; # Now $a is a plain 4, not 'Data' |
922 | |
923 | preserve "objectness" of $a. But Perl I<has> a way to make assignments |
924 | to an object do whatever you want. It is just not the overload, but |
925 | tie()ing interface (see L<perlfunc/tie>). Adding a FETCH() method |
b267980d |
926 | which returns the object itself, and STORE() method which changes the |
ee239bfe |
927 | value of the object, one can reproduce the arithmetic metaphor in its |
928 | completeness, at least for variables which were tie()d from the start. |
929 | |
930 | (Note that a workaround for a bug may be needed, see L<"BUGS">.) |
931 | |
932 | =head1 Cookbook |
933 | |
934 | Please add examples to what follows! |
935 | |
936 | =head2 Two-face scalars |
937 | |
938 | Put this in F<two_face.pm> in your Perl library directory: |
939 | |
940 | package two_face; # Scalars with separate string and |
941 | # numeric values. |
942 | sub new { my $p = shift; bless [@_], $p } |
943 | use overload '""' => \&str, '0+' => \&num, fallback => 1; |
944 | sub num {shift->[1]} |
945 | sub str {shift->[0]} |
946 | |
947 | Use it as follows: |
948 | |
949 | require two_face; |
950 | my $seven = new two_face ("vii", 7); |
951 | printf "seven=$seven, seven=%d, eight=%d\n", $seven, $seven+1; |
952 | print "seven contains `i'\n" if $seven =~ /i/; |
953 | |
954 | (The second line creates a scalar which has both a string value, and a |
955 | numeric value.) This prints: |
956 | |
957 | seven=vii, seven=7, eight=8 |
958 | seven contains `i' |
959 | |
f5284f61 |
960 | =head2 Two-face references |
961 | |
962 | Suppose you want to create an object which is accessible as both an |
6d822dc4 |
963 | array reference and a hash reference. |
f5284f61 |
964 | |
965 | package two_refs; |
966 | use overload '%{}' => \&gethash, '@{}' => sub { $ {shift()} }; |
b267980d |
967 | sub new { |
968 | my $p = shift; |
f5284f61 |
969 | bless \ [@_], $p; |
970 | } |
971 | sub gethash { |
972 | my %h; |
973 | my $self = shift; |
974 | tie %h, ref $self, $self; |
975 | \%h; |
976 | } |
977 | |
978 | sub TIEHASH { my $p = shift; bless \ shift, $p } |
979 | my %fields; |
980 | my $i = 0; |
981 | $fields{$_} = $i++ foreach qw{zero one two three}; |
b267980d |
982 | sub STORE { |
f5284f61 |
983 | my $self = ${shift()}; |
984 | my $key = $fields{shift()}; |
985 | defined $key or die "Out of band access"; |
986 | $$self->[$key] = shift; |
987 | } |
b267980d |
988 | sub FETCH { |
f5284f61 |
989 | my $self = ${shift()}; |
990 | my $key = $fields{shift()}; |
991 | defined $key or die "Out of band access"; |
992 | $$self->[$key]; |
993 | } |
994 | |
995 | Now one can access an object using both the array and hash syntax: |
996 | |
997 | my $bar = new two_refs 3,4,5,6; |
998 | $bar->[2] = 11; |
999 | $bar->{two} == 11 or die 'bad hash fetch'; |
1000 | |
1001 | Note several important features of this example. First of all, the |
1002 | I<actual> type of $bar is a scalar reference, and we do not overload |
1003 | the scalar dereference. Thus we can get the I<actual> non-overloaded |
1004 | contents of $bar by just using C<$$bar> (what we do in functions which |
1005 | overload dereference). Similarly, the object returned by the |
1006 | TIEHASH() method is a scalar reference. |
1007 | |
1008 | Second, we create a new tied hash each time the hash syntax is used. |
1009 | This allows us not to worry about a possibility of a reference loop, |
d1be9408 |
1010 | which would lead to a memory leak. |
f5284f61 |
1011 | |
1012 | Both these problems can be cured. Say, if we want to overload hash |
1013 | dereference on a reference to an object which is I<implemented> as a |
1014 | hash itself, the only problem one has to circumvent is how to access |
1fd16925 |
1015 | this I<actual> hash (as opposed to the I<virtual> hash exhibited by the |
f5284f61 |
1016 | overloaded dereference operator). Here is one possible fetching routine: |
1017 | |
1018 | sub access_hash { |
1019 | my ($self, $key) = (shift, shift); |
1020 | my $class = ref $self; |
b267980d |
1021 | bless $self, 'overload::dummy'; # Disable overloading of %{} |
f5284f61 |
1022 | my $out = $self->{$key}; |
1023 | bless $self, $class; # Restore overloading |
1024 | $out; |
1025 | } |
1026 | |
1fd16925 |
1027 | To remove creation of the tied hash on each access, one may an extra |
f5284f61 |
1028 | level of indirection which allows a non-circular structure of references: |
1029 | |
1030 | package two_refs1; |
1031 | use overload '%{}' => sub { ${shift()}->[1] }, |
1032 | '@{}' => sub { ${shift()}->[0] }; |
b267980d |
1033 | sub new { |
1034 | my $p = shift; |
f5284f61 |
1035 | my $a = [@_]; |
1036 | my %h; |
1037 | tie %h, $p, $a; |
1038 | bless \ [$a, \%h], $p; |
1039 | } |
1040 | sub gethash { |
1041 | my %h; |
1042 | my $self = shift; |
1043 | tie %h, ref $self, $self; |
1044 | \%h; |
1045 | } |
1046 | |
1047 | sub TIEHASH { my $p = shift; bless \ shift, $p } |
1048 | my %fields; |
1049 | my $i = 0; |
1050 | $fields{$_} = $i++ foreach qw{zero one two three}; |
b267980d |
1051 | sub STORE { |
f5284f61 |
1052 | my $a = ${shift()}; |
1053 | my $key = $fields{shift()}; |
1054 | defined $key or die "Out of band access"; |
1055 | $a->[$key] = shift; |
1056 | } |
b267980d |
1057 | sub FETCH { |
f5284f61 |
1058 | my $a = ${shift()}; |
1059 | my $key = $fields{shift()}; |
1060 | defined $key or die "Out of band access"; |
1061 | $a->[$key]; |
1062 | } |
1063 | |
1fd16925 |
1064 | Now if $baz is overloaded like this, then C<$baz> is a reference to a |
f5284f61 |
1065 | reference to the intermediate array, which keeps a reference to an |
1066 | actual array, and the access hash. The tie()ing object for the access |
1fd16925 |
1067 | hash is a reference to a reference to the actual array, so |
f5284f61 |
1068 | |
88c28ceb |
1069 | =over |
f5284f61 |
1070 | |
1071 | =item * |
1072 | |
1073 | There are no loops of references. |
1074 | |
1075 | =item * |
1076 | |
1077 | Both "objects" which are blessed into the class C<two_refs1> are |
1078 | references to a reference to an array, thus references to a I<scalar>. |
1079 | Thus the accessor expression C<$$foo-E<gt>[$ind]> involves no |
1080 | overloaded operations. |
1081 | |
1082 | =back |
1083 | |
ee239bfe |
1084 | =head2 Symbolic calculator |
1085 | |
1086 | Put this in F<symbolic.pm> in your Perl library directory: |
1087 | |
1088 | package symbolic; # Primitive symbolic calculator |
1089 | use overload nomethod => \&wrap; |
1090 | |
1091 | sub new { shift; bless ['n', @_] } |
1092 | sub wrap { |
1093 | my ($obj, $other, $inv, $meth) = @_; |
1094 | ($obj, $other) = ($other, $obj) if $inv; |
1095 | bless [$meth, $obj, $other]; |
1096 | } |
1097 | |
1098 | This module is very unusual as overloaded modules go: it does not |
88c28ceb |
1099 | provide any usual overloaded operators, instead it provides the L<Last |
1100 | Resort> operator C<nomethod>. In this example the corresponding |
f610777f |
1101 | subroutine returns an object which encapsulates operations done over |
ee239bfe |
1102 | the objects: C<new symbolic 3> contains C<['n', 3]>, C<2 + new |
1103 | symbolic 3> contains C<['+', 2, ['n', 3]]>. |
1104 | |
1105 | Here is an example of the script which "calculates" the side of |
1106 | circumscribed octagon using the above package: |
1107 | |
1108 | require symbolic; |
1109 | my $iter = 1; # 2**($iter+2) = 8 |
1110 | my $side = new symbolic 1; |
1111 | my $cnt = $iter; |
3cb6de81 |
1112 | |
ee239bfe |
1113 | while ($cnt--) { |
1114 | $side = (sqrt(1 + $side**2) - 1)/$side; |
1115 | } |
1116 | print "OK\n"; |
1117 | |
1118 | The value of $side is |
1119 | |
1120 | ['/', ['-', ['sqrt', ['+', 1, ['**', ['n', 1], 2]], |
1121 | undef], 1], ['n', 1]] |
1122 | |
1123 | Note that while we obtained this value using a nice little script, |
1124 | there is no simple way to I<use> this value. In fact this value may |
2d3232d7 |
1125 | be inspected in debugger (see L<perldebug>), but only if |
ee239bfe |
1126 | C<bareStringify> B<O>ption is set, and not via C<p> command. |
1127 | |
1128 | If one attempts to print this value, then the overloaded operator |
1129 | C<""> will be called, which will call C<nomethod> operator. The |
1130 | result of this operator will be stringified again, but this result is |
1131 | again of type C<symbolic>, which will lead to an infinite loop. |
1132 | |
1133 | Add a pretty-printer method to the module F<symbolic.pm>: |
1134 | |
1135 | sub pretty { |
1136 | my ($meth, $a, $b) = @{+shift}; |
1137 | $a = 'u' unless defined $a; |
1138 | $b = 'u' unless defined $b; |
1139 | $a = $a->pretty if ref $a; |
1140 | $b = $b->pretty if ref $b; |
1141 | "[$meth $a $b]"; |
b267980d |
1142 | } |
ee239bfe |
1143 | |
1144 | Now one can finish the script by |
1145 | |
1146 | print "side = ", $side->pretty, "\n"; |
1147 | |
1148 | The method C<pretty> is doing object-to-string conversion, so it |
1149 | is natural to overload the operator C<""> using this method. However, |
1150 | inside such a method it is not necessary to pretty-print the |
1151 | I<components> $a and $b of an object. In the above subroutine |
1152 | C<"[$meth $a $b]"> is a catenation of some strings and components $a |
1153 | and $b. If these components use overloading, the catenation operator |
1fd16925 |
1154 | will look for an overloaded operator C<.>; if not present, it will |
ee239bfe |
1155 | look for an overloaded operator C<"">. Thus it is enough to use |
1156 | |
1157 | use overload nomethod => \&wrap, '""' => \&str; |
1158 | sub str { |
1159 | my ($meth, $a, $b) = @{+shift}; |
1160 | $a = 'u' unless defined $a; |
1161 | $b = 'u' unless defined $b; |
1162 | "[$meth $a $b]"; |
b267980d |
1163 | } |
ee239bfe |
1164 | |
1165 | Now one can change the last line of the script to |
1166 | |
1167 | print "side = $side\n"; |
1168 | |
1169 | which outputs |
1170 | |
1171 | side = [/ [- [sqrt [+ 1 [** [n 1 u] 2]] u] 1] [n 1 u]] |
1172 | |
1173 | and one can inspect the value in debugger using all the possible |
b267980d |
1174 | methods. |
ee239bfe |
1175 | |
d1be9408 |
1176 | Something is still amiss: consider the loop variable $cnt of the |
ee239bfe |
1177 | script. It was a number, not an object. We cannot make this value of |
1178 | type C<symbolic>, since then the loop will not terminate. |
1179 | |
1180 | Indeed, to terminate the cycle, the $cnt should become false. |
1181 | However, the operator C<bool> for checking falsity is overloaded (this |
1182 | time via overloaded C<"">), and returns a long string, thus any object |
1183 | of type C<symbolic> is true. To overcome this, we need a way to |
1184 | compare an object to 0. In fact, it is easier to write a numeric |
1185 | conversion routine. |
1186 | |
1187 | Here is the text of F<symbolic.pm> with such a routine added (and |
f610777f |
1188 | slightly modified str()): |
ee239bfe |
1189 | |
1190 | package symbolic; # Primitive symbolic calculator |
1191 | use overload |
1192 | nomethod => \&wrap, '""' => \&str, '0+' => \# |
1193 | |
1194 | sub new { shift; bless ['n', @_] } |
1195 | sub wrap { |
1196 | my ($obj, $other, $inv, $meth) = @_; |
1197 | ($obj, $other) = ($other, $obj) if $inv; |
1198 | bless [$meth, $obj, $other]; |
1199 | } |
1200 | sub str { |
1201 | my ($meth, $a, $b) = @{+shift}; |
1202 | $a = 'u' unless defined $a; |
1203 | if (defined $b) { |
1204 | "[$meth $a $b]"; |
1205 | } else { |
1206 | "[$meth $a]"; |
1207 | } |
b267980d |
1208 | } |
1209 | my %subr = ( n => sub {$_[0]}, |
1210 | sqrt => sub {sqrt $_[0]}, |
ee239bfe |
1211 | '-' => sub {shift() - shift()}, |
1212 | '+' => sub {shift() + shift()}, |
1213 | '/' => sub {shift() / shift()}, |
1214 | '*' => sub {shift() * shift()}, |
1215 | '**' => sub {shift() ** shift()}, |
1216 | ); |
1217 | sub num { |
1218 | my ($meth, $a, $b) = @{+shift}; |
b267980d |
1219 | my $subr = $subr{$meth} |
ee239bfe |
1220 | or die "Do not know how to ($meth) in symbolic"; |
1221 | $a = $a->num if ref $a eq __PACKAGE__; |
1222 | $b = $b->num if ref $b eq __PACKAGE__; |
1223 | $subr->($a,$b); |
1224 | } |
1225 | |
1226 | All the work of numeric conversion is done in %subr and num(). Of |
f610777f |
1227 | course, %subr is not complete, it contains only operators used in the |
ee239bfe |
1228 | example below. Here is the extra-credit question: why do we need an |
1229 | explicit recursion in num()? (Answer is at the end of this section.) |
1230 | |
1231 | Use this module like this: |
1232 | |
1233 | require symbolic; |
1234 | my $iter = new symbolic 2; # 16-gon |
1235 | my $side = new symbolic 1; |
1236 | my $cnt = $iter; |
3cb6de81 |
1237 | |
ee239bfe |
1238 | while ($cnt) { |
1239 | $cnt = $cnt - 1; # Mutator `--' not implemented |
1240 | $side = (sqrt(1 + $side**2) - 1)/$side; |
1241 | } |
1242 | printf "%s=%f\n", $side, $side; |
1243 | printf "pi=%f\n", $side*(2**($iter+2)); |
1244 | |
1245 | It prints (without so many line breaks) |
1246 | |
1247 | [/ [- [sqrt [+ 1 [** [/ [- [sqrt [+ 1 [** [n 1] 2]]] 1] |
1248 | [n 1]] 2]]] 1] |
1249 | [/ [- [sqrt [+ 1 [** [n 1] 2]]] 1] [n 1]]]=0.198912 |
1250 | pi=3.182598 |
1251 | |
1252 | The above module is very primitive. It does not implement |
1253 | mutator methods (C<++>, C<-=> and so on), does not do deep copying |
1254 | (not required without mutators!), and implements only those arithmetic |
1255 | operations which are used in the example. |
1256 | |
1fd16925 |
1257 | To implement most arithmetic operations is easy; one should just use |
ee239bfe |
1258 | the tables of operations, and change the code which fills %subr to |
1259 | |
1260 | my %subr = ( 'n' => sub {$_[0]} ); |
1261 | foreach my $op (split " ", $overload::ops{with_assign}) { |
1262 | $subr{$op} = $subr{"$op="} = eval "sub {shift() $op shift()}"; |
1263 | } |
1264 | my @bins = qw(binary 3way_comparison num_comparison str_comparison); |
1265 | foreach my $op (split " ", "@overload::ops{ @bins }") { |
1266 | $subr{$op} = eval "sub {shift() $op shift()}"; |
1267 | } |
1268 | foreach my $op (split " ", "@overload::ops{qw(unary func)}") { |
1269 | print "defining `$op'\n"; |
1270 | $subr{$op} = eval "sub {$op shift()}"; |
1271 | } |
1272 | |
1273 | Due to L<Calling Conventions for Mutators>, we do not need anything |
1274 | special to make C<+=> and friends work, except filling C<+=> entry of |
1275 | %subr, and defining a copy constructor (needed since Perl has no |
1276 | way to know that the implementation of C<'+='> does not mutate |
1277 | the argument, compare L<Copy Constructor>). |
1278 | |
1fd16925 |
1279 | To implement a copy constructor, add C<< '=' => \&cpy >> to C<use overload> |
ee239bfe |
1280 | line, and code (this code assumes that mutators change things one level |
1281 | deep only, so recursive copying is not needed): |
1282 | |
1283 | sub cpy { |
1284 | my $self = shift; |
1285 | bless [@$self], ref $self; |
1286 | } |
1287 | |
b267980d |
1288 | To make C<++> and C<--> work, we need to implement actual mutators, |
ee239bfe |
1289 | either directly, or in C<nomethod>. We continue to do things inside |
1290 | C<nomethod>, thus add |
1291 | |
1292 | if ($meth eq '++' or $meth eq '--') { |
1293 | @$obj = ($meth, (bless [@$obj]), 1); # Avoid circular reference |
1294 | return $obj; |
1295 | } |
1296 | |
b267980d |
1297 | after the first line of wrap(). This is not a most effective |
ee239bfe |
1298 | implementation, one may consider |
1299 | |
1300 | sub inc { $_[0] = bless ['++', shift, 1]; } |
1301 | |
1302 | instead. |
1303 | |
1304 | As a final remark, note that one can fill %subr by |
1305 | |
1306 | my %subr = ( 'n' => sub {$_[0]} ); |
1307 | foreach my $op (split " ", $overload::ops{with_assign}) { |
1308 | $subr{$op} = $subr{"$op="} = eval "sub {shift() $op shift()}"; |
1309 | } |
1310 | my @bins = qw(binary 3way_comparison num_comparison str_comparison); |
1311 | foreach my $op (split " ", "@overload::ops{ @bins }") { |
1312 | $subr{$op} = eval "sub {shift() $op shift()}"; |
1313 | } |
1314 | foreach my $op (split " ", "@overload::ops{qw(unary func)}") { |
1315 | $subr{$op} = eval "sub {$op shift()}"; |
1316 | } |
1317 | $subr{'++'} = $subr{'+'}; |
1318 | $subr{'--'} = $subr{'-'}; |
1319 | |
b267980d |
1320 | This finishes implementation of a primitive symbolic calculator in |
1321 | 50 lines of Perl code. Since the numeric values of subexpressions |
ee239bfe |
1322 | are not cached, the calculator is very slow. |
1323 | |
1324 | Here is the answer for the exercise: In the case of str(), we need no |
1325 | explicit recursion since the overloaded C<.>-operator will fall back |
1326 | to an existing overloaded operator C<"">. Overloaded arithmetic |
1327 | operators I<do not> fall back to numeric conversion if C<fallback> is |
1328 | not explicitly requested. Thus without an explicit recursion num() |
1329 | would convert C<['+', $a, $b]> to C<$a + $b>, which would just rebuild |
1330 | the argument of num(). |
1331 | |
1332 | If you wonder why defaults for conversion are different for str() and |
1333 | num(), note how easy it was to write the symbolic calculator. This |
1334 | simplicity is due to an appropriate choice of defaults. One extra |
f610777f |
1335 | note: due to the explicit recursion num() is more fragile than sym(): |
1336 | we need to explicitly check for the type of $a and $b. If components |
ee239bfe |
1337 | $a and $b happen to be of some related type, this may lead to problems. |
1338 | |
1339 | =head2 I<Really> symbolic calculator |
1340 | |
1341 | One may wonder why we call the above calculator symbolic. The reason |
1342 | is that the actual calculation of the value of expression is postponed |
1343 | until the value is I<used>. |
1344 | |
1345 | To see it in action, add a method |
1346 | |
b267980d |
1347 | sub STORE { |
1348 | my $obj = shift; |
1349 | $#$obj = 1; |
ee239bfe |
1350 | @$obj->[0,1] = ('=', shift); |
1351 | } |
1352 | |
1353 | to the package C<symbolic>. After this change one can do |
1354 | |
1355 | my $a = new symbolic 3; |
1356 | my $b = new symbolic 4; |
1357 | my $c = sqrt($a**2 + $b**2); |
1358 | |
1359 | and the numeric value of $c becomes 5. However, after calling |
1360 | |
1361 | $a->STORE(12); $b->STORE(5); |
1362 | |
1363 | the numeric value of $c becomes 13. There is no doubt now that the module |
1364 | symbolic provides a I<symbolic> calculator indeed. |
1365 | |
1366 | To hide the rough edges under the hood, provide a tie()d interface to the |
1367 | package C<symbolic> (compare with L<Metaphor clash>). Add methods |
1368 | |
1369 | sub TIESCALAR { my $pack = shift; $pack->new(@_) } |
1370 | sub FETCH { shift } |
1371 | sub nop { } # Around a bug |
1372 | |
1373 | (the bug is described in L<"BUGS">). One can use this new interface as |
1374 | |
1375 | tie $a, 'symbolic', 3; |
1376 | tie $b, 'symbolic', 4; |
1377 | $a->nop; $b->nop; # Around a bug |
1378 | |
1379 | my $c = sqrt($a**2 + $b**2); |
1380 | |
1381 | Now numeric value of $c is 5. After C<$a = 12; $b = 5> the numeric value |
1382 | of $c becomes 13. To insulate the user of the module add a method |
1383 | |
1384 | sub vars { my $p = shift; tie($_, $p), $_->nop foreach @_; } |
1385 | |
1386 | Now |
1387 | |
1388 | my ($a, $b); |
1389 | symbolic->vars($a, $b); |
1390 | my $c = sqrt($a**2 + $b**2); |
1391 | |
1392 | $a = 3; $b = 4; |
1393 | printf "c5 %s=%f\n", $c, $c; |
1394 | |
1395 | $a = 12; $b = 5; |
1396 | printf "c13 %s=%f\n", $c, $c; |
1397 | |
1398 | shows that the numeric value of $c follows changes to the values of $a |
1399 | and $b. |
1400 | |
4633a7c4 |
1401 | =head1 AUTHOR |
1402 | |
1fef88e7 |
1403 | Ilya Zakharevich E<lt>F<ilya@math.mps.ohio-state.edu>E<gt>. |
4633a7c4 |
1404 | |
7e494759 |
1405 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
1406 | |
1407 | The L<overloading> pragma can be used to enable or disable overloaded |
1408 | operations within a lexical scope. |
1409 | |
4633a7c4 |
1410 | =head1 DIAGNOSTICS |
1411 | |
1412 | When Perl is run with the B<-Do> switch or its equivalent, overloading |
1413 | induces diagnostic messages. |
1414 | |
e7ea3e70 |
1415 | Using the C<m> command of Perl debugger (see L<perldebug>) one can |
1416 | deduce which operations are overloaded (and which ancestor triggers |
1417 | this overloading). Say, if C<eq> is overloaded, then the method C<(eq> |
1418 | is shown by debugger. The method C<()> corresponds to the C<fallback> |
1419 | key (in fact a presence of this method shows that this package has |
1420 | overloading enabled, and it is what is used by the C<Overloaded> |
ee239bfe |
1421 | function of module C<overload>). |
e7ea3e70 |
1422 | |
6ad11d81 |
1423 | The module might issue the following warnings: |
6b82e2f5 |
1424 | |
1425 | =over 4 |
1426 | |
1427 | =item Odd number of arguments for overload::constant |
1428 | |
1429 | (W) The call to overload::constant contained an odd number of arguments. |
1430 | The arguments should come in pairs. |
1431 | |
1432 | =item `%s' is not an overloadable type |
1433 | |
1434 | (W) You tried to overload a constant type the overload package is unaware of. |
1435 | |
1436 | =item `%s' is not a code reference |
1437 | |
1438 | (W) The second (fourth, sixth, ...) argument of overload::constant needs |
1439 | to be a code reference. Either an anonymous subroutine, or a reference |
1440 | to a subroutine. |
1441 | |
1442 | =back |
1443 | |
4633a7c4 |
1444 | =head1 BUGS |
1445 | |
aa689395 |
1446 | Because it is used for overloading, the per-package hash %OVERLOAD now |
1447 | has a special meaning in Perl. The symbol table is filled with names |
1448 | looking like line-noise. |
4633a7c4 |
1449 | |
a6006777 |
1450 | For the purpose of inheritance every overloaded package behaves as if |
1451 | C<fallback> is present (possibly undefined). This may create |
1452 | interesting effects if some package is not overloaded, but inherits |
1453 | from two overloaded packages. |
4633a7c4 |
1454 | |
b267980d |
1455 | Relation between overloading and tie()ing is broken. Overloading is |
ee239bfe |
1456 | triggered or not basing on the I<previous> class of tie()d value. |
1457 | |
b267980d |
1458 | This happens because the presence of overloading is checked too early, |
ee239bfe |
1459 | before any tie()d access is attempted. If the FETCH()ed class of the |
b267980d |
1460 | tie()d value does not change, a simple workaround is to access the value |
ee239bfe |
1461 | immediately after tie()ing, so that after this call the I<previous> class |
1462 | coincides with the current one. |
1463 | |
1464 | B<Needed:> a way to fix this without a speed penalty. |
1465 | |
b3ac6de7 |
1466 | Barewords are not covered by overloaded string constants. |
1467 | |
ee239bfe |
1468 | This document is confusing. There are grammos and misleading language |
1469 | used in places. It would seem a total rewrite is needed. |
4633a7c4 |
1470 | |
1471 | =cut |
1472 | |