add documentation on the new AH delegation (Currying and Perl Data Structures)

[gitmo/Moose.git] / lib / Moose / Manual / Roles.pod

diff --git a/lib/Moose/Manual/Roles.pod b/lib/Moose/Manual/Roles.pod
index 73b08df..938f348 100644 (file)
--- a/lib/Moose/Manual/Roles.pod
+++ b/lib/Moose/Manual/Roles.pod
@@ -8,15 +8,16 @@ Moose::Manual::Roles - Roles, an alternative to deep hierarchies and base classe
 
 A role is something that classes do. Usually, a role encapsulates some
 piece of behavior or state that can be shared between classes. It is
-important to understand that I<roles are not classes>. Roles do not
-participate in inheritance, and a role cannot be instantiated. We
-sometimes say that classes I<consume> roles.
+important to understand that I<roles are not classes>. You cannot
+inherit from a role, and a role cannot be instantiated. We sometimes
+say that roles are I<consumed>, either by classes or other roles.
 
 Instead, a role is I<composed> into a class. In practical terms, this
 means that all of the methods and attributes defined in a role are
 added directly to (we sometimes say "flattened into") the class that
 consumes the role. These attributes and methods then appear as if they
-were defined in the class itself.
+were defined in the class itself. A subclass of the consuming class
+will inherit all of these methods and attributes.
 
 Moose roles are similar to mixins or interfaces in other languages.
 
@@ -26,6 +27,9 @@ own. You could have a role that consisted only of a list of required
 methods, in which case the role would be very much like a Java
 interface.
 
+Note that attribute accessors also count as methods for the
+purposes of satisfying the requirements of a role.
+
 =head1 A SIMPLE ROLE
 
 Creating a role looks a lot like creating a Moose class:
@@ -147,6 +151,24 @@ set to true when C<break> is called.
       }
   }
 
+=head2 Roles Versus Abstract Base Classes
+
+If you are familiar with the concept of abstract base classes in other
+languages, you may be tempted to use roles in the same way.
+
+You I<can> define an "interface-only" role, one that contains I<just>
+a list of required methods.
+
+However, any class which consumes this role must implement all of the
+required methods, either directly or through inheritance from a
+parent. You cannot delay the method requirement check so that they can
+be implemented by future subclasses.
+
+Because the role defines the required methods directly, adding a base
+class to the mix would not achieve anything. We recommend that you
+simply consume the interface role in each class which implements that
+interface.
+
 =head1 USING METHOD MODIFIERS
 
 Method modifiers and roles are a very powerful combination.  Often, a
@@ -177,7 +199,7 @@ If a class composes multiple roles, and those roles have methods of
 the same name, we will have a conflict. In that case, the composing
 class is required to provide its I<own> method of the same name.
 
-  package Breakdances;
+  package Breakdancer;
 
   use Moose::Role
 
@@ -205,22 +227,22 @@ from both its roles, we can alias the methods:
 
   use Moose;
 
-  with 'Breakable'   => { alias => { break => 'break_bone' } },
-       'Breakdancer' => { alias => { break => 'break_dance' } };
+  with 'Breakable'   => { -alias => { break => 'break_bone' } },
+       'Breakdancer' => { -alias => { break => 'break_dance' } };
 
 However, aliasing a method simply makes a I<copy> of the method with
 the new name. We also need to exclude the original name:
 
   with 'Breakable' => {
-      alias   => { break => 'break_bone' },
-      exclude => 'break',
+      -alias    => { break => 'break_bone' },
+      -excludes => 'break',
       },
       'Breakdancer' => {
-      alias   => { break => 'break_dance' },
-      exclude => 'break',
+      -alias    => { break => 'break_dance' },
+      -excludes => 'break',
       };
 
-The exclude parameter prevents the C<break> method from being composed
+The excludes parameter prevents the C<break> method from being composed
 into the C<FragileDancer> class, so we don't have a conflict. This
 means that C<FragileDancer> does not need to implement its own
 C<break> method.