From: Barrie Slaymaker Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 10:56:20 +0000 (-0500) Subject: Re: Why *not* use UNIVERSAL qw( isa can ) ; ?? X-Git-Url: http://git.shadowcat.co.uk/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=ea8fae293543a7d3ec6f09254a20517959143189;p=p5sagit%2Fp5-mst-13.2.git Re: Why *not* use UNIVERSAL qw( isa can ) ; ?? Message-Id: <20011113105620.B24192@sizzle.whoville.com> (Test applied with minor tweaks and ->isa("HASH") omission.) p4raw-id: //depot/perl@12975 --- diff --git a/lib/UNIVERSAL.pm b/lib/UNIVERSAL.pm index a9cb478..92b4fcd 100644 --- a/lib/UNIVERSAL.pm +++ b/lib/UNIVERSAL.pm @@ -4,10 +4,13 @@ our $VERSION = '1.00'; # UNIVERSAL should not contain any extra subs/methods beyond those # that it exists to define. The use of Exporter below is a historical -# accident that should be fixed sometime. +# accident that can't be fixed without breaking code. Note that we +# *don't* set @ISA here, don't want all classes/objects inheriting from +# Exporter. It's bad enough that all classes have a import() method +# whenever UNIVERSAL.pm is loaded. require Exporter; *import = \&Exporter::import; -@EXPORT_OK = qw(isa can); +@EXPORT_OK = qw(isa can VERSION); 1; __END__ @@ -18,32 +21,62 @@ UNIVERSAL - base class for ALL classes (blessed references) =head1 SYNOPSIS - $io = $fd->isa("IO::Handle"); - $sub = $obj->can('print'); + $is_io = $fd->isa("IO::Handle"); + $is_io = Class->isa("IO::Handle"); - $yes = UNIVERSAL::isa($ref, "HASH"); + $sub = $obj->can("print"); + $sub = Class->can("print"); + + use UNIVERSAL qw( isa can VERSION ); + $yes = isa $ref, "HASH" ; + $sub = can $ref, "fandango" ; + $ver = VERSION $obj ; =head1 DESCRIPTION C is the base class which all bless references will inherit from, -see L +see L. -C provides the following methods +C provides the following methods and functions: =over 4 -=item isa ( TYPE ) +=item $obj->isa( TYPE ), CLASS->isa( TYPE ), isa( VAL, TYPE ) + + C is a package name + $obj is a blessed reference or a string containing a package name + C is a package name + C is any of the above or an unblessed reference + +When used as an instance or class method (C<$obj->isa( TYPE )>), C +returns I if $obj is blessed into package C or inherits from +package C. + +When used as a class method (Cisa( TYPE )>; sometimes referred to as a +static method), C returns I if C inherits from (or is itself) +the name of the package C or inherits from package C. + +When used as a function, like + + use UNIVERSAL qw( isa ) ; + $yes = isa $h, "HASH"; + $yes = isa "Foo", "Bar"; -C returns I if C is blessed into package C -or inherits from package C. +or -C can be called as either a static or object method call. + require UNIVERSAL ; + $yes = UNIVERSAL::isa $a, "ARRAY"; -=item can ( METHOD ) +, C returns I in the same cases as above and also if C is an +unblessed reference to a perl variable of type C, such as "HASH", +"ARRAY", or "Regexp". -C checks if the object has a method called C. If it does -then a reference to the sub is returned. If it does not then I -is returned. +=item $obj->can( METHOD ), CLASS->can( METHOD ), can( VAL, METHOD ) + +C checks if the object or class has a method called C. If it does +then a reference to the sub is returned. If it does not then I is +returned. This includes methods inherited or imported by C<$obj>, C, or +C. C cannot know whether an object will be able to provide a method through AUTOLOAD, so a return value of I does not necessarily mean @@ -54,7 +87,13 @@ will still return a code reference, which, when called, will fall through to the AUTOLOAD. If no suitable AUTOLOAD is provided, calling the coderef will cause an error. -C can be called as either a static or object method call. +C can be called as a class (static) method, an object method, or a +function. + +When used as a function, if C is a blessed reference or package name which +has a method called C, C returns a reference to the subroutine. +If C is not a blessed reference, or if it does not have a method +C, I is returned. =item VERSION ( [ REQUIRE ] ) @@ -63,42 +102,9 @@ package the object is blessed into. If C is given then it will do a comparison and die if the package version is not greater than or equal to C. -C can be called as either a static or object method call. - -=back - -The C and C methods can also be called as subroutines - -=over 4 - -=item UNIVERSAL::isa ( VAL, TYPE ) - -C returns I if one of the following statements is true. - -=over 8 - -=item * - -C is a reference blessed into either package C or a package -which inherits from package C. - -=item * - -C is a reference to a C of Perl variable (e.g. 'HASH'). - -=item * - -C is the name of a package that inherits from (or is itself) -package C. - -=back - -=item UNIVERSAL::can ( VAL, METHOD ) +C can be called as either a class (static) method, an object method or +or a function. -If C is a blessed reference which has a method called C, -C returns a reference to the subroutine. If C is not -a blessed reference, or if it does not have a method C, -I is returned. =back diff --git a/t/op/universal.t b/t/op/universal.t index efda2a5..f8c15d7 100755 --- a/t/op/universal.t +++ b/t/op/universal.t @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ BEGIN { $| = 1; } -print "1..87\n"; +print "1..90\n"; $a = {}; bless $a, "Bob"; @@ -46,7 +46,12 @@ $Alice::VERSION = 2.718; package main; { my $i = 2; - sub test { print "not " unless shift; print "ok $i\n"; $i++; } + sub test { + print "not " unless $_[0]; + print "ok ", $i++; + print "# at ", (caller)[1], ", line ", (caller)[2] unless $_[0]; + print "\n"; + } } $a = new Alice; @@ -115,10 +120,12 @@ test ! (eval { $a->VERSION(2.719) }) && test (eval { $a->VERSION(2.718) }) && ! $@; my $subs = join ' ', sort grep { defined &{"UNIVERSAL::$_"} } keys %UNIVERSAL::; +## The test for import here is *not* because we want to ensure that UNIVERSAL +## can always import; it is an historical accident that UNIVERSAL can import. if ('a' lt 'A') { - test $subs eq "can isa VERSION"; + test $subs eq "can import isa VERSION"; } else { - test $subs eq "VERSION can isa"; + test $subs eq "VERSION can import isa"; } test $a->isa("UNIVERSAL"); @@ -152,3 +159,12 @@ test ! UNIVERSAL::can($b, "can"); test ! $a->can("export_tags"); # a method in Exporter test ! UNIVERSAL::isa("\xff\xff\xff\0", 'HASH'); + +{ + package Pickup; + use UNIVERSAL qw( isa can VERSION ); + + main::test isa "Pickup", UNIVERSAL; + main::test can( "Pickup", "can" ) == \&UNIVERSAL::can; + main::test VERSION "UNIVERSAL" ; +}