NAME

FP::Abstract::Id - identity protocol

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

This protocol handles identification for values (objects). An identifier is a string. Classes implementing this protocol must provide a `FP_Id_id' method that takes no other arguments and returns the identifier for the set of objects which are considered identical by the class.

The identifier may be used for sorting (e.g. FP::Collection uses it to determine the sort order of the elements in FP::Show::show). It doesn't need to be human readable (thus could be implemented via hashing) but it might be useful if it is.

SEE ALSO

FP::Collection

NOTE

This is alpha software! Read the status section in the package README or on the website.