fields::aliased 1.05

fields::aliased is a Perl module that can create aliases for object fields.

SYNOPSIS

package MyPackage;
use strict;
use fields qw($scalar @array %hash);

sub new {
my $class = shift;
my $self = fields::new($class);

return $self;
}

sub mymethod {
my MyPackage $self = shift;
use fields::aliased qw($self $scalar @array %hash);

$scalar = 1;
@array = (2 .. 4);
%hash = (one => 1, two => 2);
}

This module is a companion to the fields module, which allows efficient handling of instance variables with checking at compile time. It goes one step further and actually creates lexical aliases to the instance values, which can make code not only easier to type, but easier to read as well.

Declarations

You declare the fields using the fields pragma, as always.

use fields qw($scalar @array %hash nosigil);

Each field name may be preceded by a type sigil to indicate which kind of variable it is. Names without the type sigil are treated as scalars.

For names beginning with an underscore, see "PRIVATE FIELDS" below.

Constructors

You call fields::new to create the object.

my $self = fields::new($class);

Usage

In each method that uses the individual fields, you add a line similar to the following:

use fields::aliased qw($self $scalar @array %hash nosigil);

That is, list the variable being used for the object reference, and then the names of the fields that you are going to use in this method. fields::aliased takes care of declaring the appropriate Perl lexical variables and linking them to the appropriate field. You only need to specify the fields you are actually going to use, including any inherited from superclasses.