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1 | |
2 | package Class::C3; |
3 | |
4 | use strict; |
5 | use warnings; |
6 | |
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7 | our $VERSION = '0.15'; |
8 | |
9 | BEGIN { |
10 | eval { require Class::C3::XS }; |
11 | if($@) { |
12 | eval { require Class::C3::PurePerl }; |
13 | if($@) { |
14 | die 'Could not load Class::C3::XS or Class::C3::PurePerl!'; |
95bebf8c |
15 | } |
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16 | } |
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17 | } |
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18 | |
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19 | 1; |
20 | |
21 | __END__ |
22 | |
23 | =pod |
24 | |
25 | =head1 NAME |
26 | |
27 | Class::C3 - A pragma to use the C3 method resolution order algortihm |
28 | |
29 | =head1 SYNOPSIS |
30 | |
31 | package A; |
32 | use Class::C3; |
33 | sub hello { 'A::hello' } |
34 | |
35 | package B; |
36 | use base 'A'; |
37 | use Class::C3; |
38 | |
39 | package C; |
40 | use base 'A'; |
41 | use Class::C3; |
42 | |
43 | sub hello { 'C::hello' } |
44 | |
45 | package D; |
46 | use base ('B', 'C'); |
47 | use Class::C3; |
48 | |
49 | # Classic Diamond MI pattern |
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50 | # <A> |
51 | # / \ |
52 | # <B> <C> |
53 | # \ / |
54 | # <D> |
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55 | |
56 | package main; |
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57 | |
58 | # initializez the C3 module |
59 | # (formerly called in INIT) |
60 | Class::C3::initialize(); |
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61 | |
62 | print join ', ' => Class::C3::calculateMRO('Diamond_D') # prints D, B, C, A |
63 | |
64 | print D->hello() # prints 'C::hello' instead of the standard p5 'A::hello' |
65 | |
66 | D->can('hello')->(); # can() also works correctly |
67 | UNIVERSAL::can('D', 'hello'); # as does UNIVERSAL::can() |
68 | |
69 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
70 | |
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71 | This is pragma to change Perl 5's standard method resolution order from depth-first left-to-right |
72 | (a.k.a - pre-order) to the more sophisticated C3 method resolution order. |
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73 | |
74 | =head2 What is C3? |
75 | |
76 | C3 is the name of an algorithm which aims to provide a sane method resolution order under multiple |
77 | inheritence. It was first introduced in the langauge Dylan (see links in the L<SEE ALSO> section), |
78 | and then later adopted as the prefered MRO (Method Resolution Order) for the new-style classes in |
79 | Python 2.3. Most recently it has been adopted as the 'canonical' MRO for Perl 6 classes, and the |
80 | default MRO for Parrot objects as well. |
81 | |
82 | =head2 How does C3 work. |
83 | |
84 | C3 works by always preserving local precendence ordering. This essentially means that no class will |
85 | appear before any of it's subclasses. Take the classic diamond inheritence pattern for instance: |
86 | |
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87 | <A> |
88 | / \ |
89 | <B> <C> |
90 | \ / |
91 | <D> |
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92 | |
93 | The standard Perl 5 MRO would be (D, B, A, C). The result being that B<A> appears before B<C>, even |
94 | though B<C> is the subclass of B<A>. The C3 MRO algorithm however, produces the following MRO |
95 | (D, B, C, A), which does not have this same issue. |
96 | |
97 | This example is fairly trival, for more complex examples and a deeper explaination, see the links in |
98 | the L<SEE ALSO> section. |
99 | |
100 | =head2 How does this module work? |
101 | |
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102 | This module uses a technique similar to Perl 5's method caching. When C<Class::C3::initialize> is |
103 | called, this module calculates the MRO of all the classes which called C<use Class::C3>. It then |
104 | gathers information from the symbol tables of each of those classes, and builds a set of method |
105 | aliases for the correct dispatch ordering. Once all these C3-based method tables are created, it |
106 | then adds the method aliases into the local classes symbol table. |
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107 | |
108 | The end result is actually classes with pre-cached method dispatch. However, this caching does not |
109 | do well if you start changing your C<@ISA> or messing with class symbol tables, so you should consider |
110 | your classes to be effectively closed. See the L<CAVEATS> section for more details. |
111 | |
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112 | =head1 OPTIONAL LOWERCASE PRAGMA |
113 | |
114 | This release also includes an optional module B<c3> in the F<opt/> folder. I did not include this in |
115 | the regular install since lowercase module names are considered I<"bad"> by some people. However I |
116 | think that code looks much nicer like this: |
117 | |
118 | package MyClass; |
119 | use c3; |
120 | |
121 | The the more clunky: |
122 | |
123 | package MyClass; |
124 | use Class::C3; |
125 | |
126 | But hey, it's your choice, thats why it is optional. |
127 | |
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128 | =head1 FUNCTIONS |
129 | |
130 | =over 4 |
131 | |
132 | =item B<calculateMRO ($class)> |
133 | |
134 | Given a C<$class> this will return an array of class names in the proper C3 method resolution order. |
135 | |
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136 | =item B<initialize> |
137 | |
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138 | This B<must be called> to initalize the C3 method dispatch tables, this module B<will not work> if |
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139 | you do not do this. It is advised to do this as soon as possible B<after> loading any classes which |
140 | use C3. Here is a quick code example: |
141 | |
142 | package Foo; |
143 | use Class::C3; |
144 | # ... Foo methods here |
145 | |
146 | package Bar; |
147 | use Class::C3; |
148 | use base 'Foo'; |
149 | # ... Bar methods here |
150 | |
151 | package main; |
152 | |
153 | Class::C3::initialize(); # now it is safe to use Foo and Bar |
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154 | |
155 | This function used to be called automatically for you in the INIT phase of the perl compiler, but |
156 | that lead to warnings if this module was required at runtime. After discussion with my user base |
157 | (the L<DBIx::Class> folks), we decided that calling this in INIT was more of an annoyance than a |
158 | convience. I apologize to anyone this causes problems for (although i would very suprised if I had |
159 | any other users other than the L<DBIx::Class> folks). The simplest solution of course is to define |
160 | your own INIT method which calls this function. |
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161 | |
162 | NOTE: |
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163 | |
164 | If C<initialize> detects that C<initialize> has already been executed, it will L</uninitialize> and |
165 | clear the MRO cache first. |
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166 | |
167 | =item B<uninitialize> |
168 | |
169 | Calling this function results in the removal of all cached methods, and the restoration of the old Perl 5 |
170 | style dispatch order (depth-first, left-to-right). |
171 | |
172 | =item B<reinitialize> |
173 | |
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174 | This is an alias for L</initialize> above. |
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175 | |
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176 | =back |
177 | |
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178 | =head1 METHOD REDISPATCHING |
179 | |
180 | It is always useful to be able to re-dispatch your method call to the "next most applicable method". This |
181 | module provides a pseudo package along the lines of C<SUPER::> or C<NEXT::> which will re-dispatch the |
182 | method along the C3 linearization. This is best show with an examples. |
183 | |
184 | # a classic diamond MI pattern ... |
185 | <A> |
186 | / \ |
187 | <B> <C> |
188 | \ / |
189 | <D> |
190 | |
191 | package A; |
192 | use c3; |
193 | sub foo { 'A::foo' } |
194 | |
195 | package B; |
196 | use base 'A'; |
197 | use c3; |
198 | sub foo { 'B::foo => ' . (shift)->next::method() } |
199 | |
200 | package B; |
201 | use base 'A'; |
202 | use c3; |
203 | sub foo { 'C::foo => ' . (shift)->next::method() } |
204 | |
205 | package D; |
206 | use base ('B', 'C'); |
207 | use c3; |
208 | sub foo { 'D::foo => ' . (shift)->next::method() } |
209 | |
210 | print D->foo; # prints out "D::foo => B::foo => C::foo => A::foo" |
211 | |
212 | A few things to note. First, we do not require you to add on the method name to the C<next::method> |
213 | call (this is unlike C<NEXT::> and C<SUPER::> which do require that). This helps to enforce the rule |
214 | that you cannot dispatch to a method of a different name (this is how C<NEXT::> behaves as well). |
215 | |
216 | The next thing to keep in mind is that you will need to pass all arguments to C<next::method> it can |
217 | not automatically use the current C<@_>. |
218 | |
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219 | If C<next::method> cannot find a next method to re-dispatch the call to, it will throw an exception. |
220 | You can use C<next::can> to see if C<next::method> will succeed before you call it like so: |
221 | |
222 | $self->next::method(@_) if $self->next::can; |
223 | |
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224 | Additionally, you can use C<maybe::next::method> as a shortcut to only call the next method if it exists. |
225 | The previous example could be simply written as: |
226 | |
227 | $self->maybe::next::method(@_); |
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228 | |
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229 | There are some caveats about using C<next::method>, see below for those. |
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230 | |
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231 | =head1 CAVEATS |
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232 | |
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233 | This module used to be labeled as I<experimental>, however it has now been pretty heavily tested by |
234 | the good folks over at L<DBIx::Class> and I am confident this module is perfectly usable for |
235 | whatever your needs might be. |
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236 | |
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237 | But there are still caveats, so here goes ... |
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238 | |
239 | =over 4 |
240 | |
241 | =item Use of C<SUPER::>. |
242 | |
243 | The idea of C<SUPER::> under multiple inheritence is ambigious, and generally not recomended anyway. |
244 | However, it's use in conjuntion with this module is very much not recommended, and in fact very |
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245 | discouraged. The recommended approach is to instead use the supplied C<next::method> feature, see |
246 | more details on it's usage above. |
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247 | |
248 | =item Changing C<@ISA>. |
249 | |
250 | It is the author's opinion that changing C<@ISA> at runtime is pure insanity anyway. However, people |
251 | do it, so I must caveat. Any changes to the C<@ISA> will not be reflected in the MRO calculated by this |
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252 | module, and therefor probably won't even show up. If you do this, you will need to call C<reinitialize> |
253 | in order to recalulate B<all> method dispatch tables. See the C<reinitialize> documentation and an example |
254 | in F<t/20_reinitialize.t> for more information. |
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255 | |
256 | =item Adding/deleting methods from class symbol tables. |
257 | |
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258 | This module calculates the MRO for each requested class by interogatting the symbol tables of said classes. |
259 | So any symbol table manipulation which takes place after our INIT phase is run will not be reflected in |
260 | the calculated MRO. Just as with changing the C<@ISA>, you will need to call C<reinitialize> for any |
261 | changes you make to take effect. |
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262 | |
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263 | =item Calling C<next::method> from methods defined outside the class |
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264 | |
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265 | There is an edge case when using C<next::method> from within a subroutine which was created in a different |
266 | module than the one it is called from. It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. Here is an example which |
267 | will not work correctly: |
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268 | |
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269 | *Foo::foo = sub { (shift)->next::method(@_) }; |
270 | |
271 | The problem exists because the anonymous subroutine being assigned to the glob C<*Foo::foo> will show up |
272 | in the call stack as being called C<__ANON__> and not C<foo> as you might expect. Since C<next::method> |
273 | uses C<caller> to find the name of the method it was called in, it will fail in this case. |
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274 | |
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275 | But fear not, there is a simple solution. The module C<Sub::Name> will reach into the perl internals and |
276 | assign a name to an anonymous subroutine for you. Simply do this: |
277 | |
278 | use Sub::Name 'subname'; |
279 | *Foo::foo = subname 'Foo::foo' => sub { (shift)->next::method(@_) }; |
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280 | |
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281 | and things will Just Work. Of course this is not always possible to do, but to be honest, I just can't |
282 | manage to find a workaround for it, so until someone gives me a working patch this will be a known |
283 | limitation of this module. |
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284 | |
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285 | =back |
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286 | |
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287 | =head1 CODE COVERAGE |
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288 | |
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289 | I use B<Devel::Cover> to test the code coverage of my tests, below is the B<Devel::Cover> report on this |
290 | module's test suite. |
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291 | |
292 | ---------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ |
293 | File stmt bran cond sub pod time total |
294 | ---------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ |
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295 | Class/C3.pm 98.3 84.4 80.0 96.2 100.0 98.4 94.4 |
5d5c86d9 |
296 | ---------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ |
58f0eafe |
297 | Total 98.3 84.4 80.0 96.2 100.0 98.4 94.4 |
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298 | ---------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ |
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299 | |
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300 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
301 | |
302 | =head2 The original Dylan paper |
303 | |
304 | =over 4 |
305 | |
306 | =item L<http://www.webcom.com/haahr/dylan/linearization-oopsla96.html> |
307 | |
308 | =back |
309 | |
310 | =head2 The prototype Perl 6 Object Model uses C3 |
311 | |
312 | =over 4 |
313 | |
314 | =item L<http://svn.openfoundry.org/pugs/perl5/Perl6-MetaModel/> |
315 | |
316 | =back |
317 | |
318 | =head2 Parrot now uses C3 |
319 | |
320 | =over 4 |
321 | |
322 | =item L<http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Mail/Message/perl6-internals/2746631> |
323 | |
324 | =item L<http://use.perl.org/~autrijus/journal/25768> |
325 | |
326 | =back |
327 | |
328 | =head2 Python 2.3 MRO related links |
329 | |
330 | =over 4 |
331 | |
332 | =item L<http://www.python.org/2.3/mro.html> |
333 | |
334 | =item L<http://www.python.org/2.2.2/descrintro.html#mro> |
335 | |
336 | =back |
337 | |
338 | =head2 C3 for TinyCLOS |
339 | |
340 | =over 4 |
341 | |
342 | =item L<http://www.call-with-current-continuation.org/eggs/c3.html> |
343 | |
344 | =back |
345 | |
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346 | =head1 ACKNOWLEGEMENTS |
347 | |
348 | =over 4 |
349 | |
350 | =item Thanks to Matt S. Trout for using this module in his module L<DBIx::Class> |
351 | and finding many bugs and providing fixes. |
352 | |
353 | =item Thanks to Justin Guenther for making C<next::method> more robust by handling |
354 | calls inside C<eval> and anon-subs. |
355 | |
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356 | =item Thanks to Robert Norris for adding support for C<next::can> and |
357 | C<maybe::next::method>. |
358 | |
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359 | =back |
360 | |
95bebf8c |
361 | =head1 AUTHOR |
362 | |
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363 | Stevan Little, E<lt>stevan@iinteractive.comE<gt> |
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364 | |
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365 | Brandon L. Black, E<lt>blblack@gmail.comE<gt> |
366 | |
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367 | =head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE |
368 | |
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369 | Copyright 2005, 2006 by Infinity Interactive, Inc. |
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370 | |
371 | L<http://www.iinteractive.com> |
372 | |
373 | This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify |
374 | it under the same terms as Perl itself. |
375 | |
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376 | =cut |