NAME

Class::MakeMethods::Docs::ReadMe - About Class::MakeMethods

DESCRIPTION

This is an updated release of Class::MakeMethods, for distribution through CPAN.

This distribution includes the Class::MakeMethods::Template and Class::MakeMethods::Emulator modules which were packaged sepearately in some previous releases.

MOTIVATION

By passing arguments to "use Class::MakeMethods ..." statements, you can select from a library of hundreds of common types of methods, which are dynamically installed as subroutines in your module, simplifying the code for your class.

DISTRIBUTION AND INSTALLATION

Version

This is Class::MakeMethods v1.010, intended for general use.

This module's CPAN registration should read:

Name            DSLIP  Description
--------------  -----  ---------------------------------------------
Class::
::MakeMethods   RdpOp  Generate common types of methods

Prerequisites

In general, this module should work with Perl 5.003 or later, without requring any modules beyond the core Perl distribution.

The following optional feature may not be available on some platforms:

• Class::MakeMethods::Attribute: The :MakeMethod subroutine attribute requires Perl version 5.6 and the Attribute::Handlers module (from CPAN).

• Class::MakeMethods::Template --lvalue: The lvalue modifier provided by the Template generator subclasses will only work on Perl version 5.6 or later.

• Some third-party tests used to check the compliance of Emulator modules require Test::More and will be automatically skipped on machines which do not have this installed.

Installation

You should be able to install this module using the CPAN shell interface:

perl -MCPAN -e 'install Class::MakeMethods'

Alternately, you may retrieve this package from CPAN or from the author's site:

• http://search.cpan.org/~evo/

• http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-authors/id/E/EV/EVO

• http://www.evoscript.org/Class-MakeMethods/dist/

After downloading the distribution, follow the normal procedure to unpack and install it, using the commands shown below or their local equivalents on your system:

tar xzf Class-MakeMethods-*.tar.gz
cd Class-MakeMethods-*
perl Makefile.PL
make test && sudo make install

Thanks to the kind generosity of other members of the Perl community, this distribution is also available repackaged in the FreeBSD "ports" and Linux RPM formats. This may simplify installation for some users, but be aware that these alternate distributions may lag a few versions behind the latest release on CPAN.

• http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/ports.cgi?query=Class-MakeMethods

• http://www.rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2html/search.php?query=perl-Class-MakeMethods

Tested Platforms

This release has been tested succesfully on the following platforms:

5.6.1 on darwin

Earlier releases have also tested OK on the following platforms:

IP30-R12000-irix
OpenBSD.i386-openbsd
i386-freebsd / i386-freebsd-thread-multi
i386-linux
i386-netbsd / i386-netbsd-thread-multi
i586-linux / i586-linux-thread-multi-ld
i686-linux / i686-pld-linux-thread-multi
ia64-linux
ppc-linux
sparc-linux
sparc-netbsd
sun4-solaris

Some earlier versions failed to "make test" on MSWin32, although a forced installation would still work; that problem should be fixed in the most recent releases.

You may also review the current test results from CPAN-Testers:

• http://testers.cpan.org/show/Class-MakeMethods.html

SUPPORT

Release Status

This module has been used in a variety of production systems and has been available on CPAN for over two years, with several other distributions dependant on it, so it would be fair to say that it is fully released.

However, while the commonly-used portions are well tested, some of the more obscure combinations of options are less so, and new bug reports do trickle in occasionally. If you do encounter any problems, please inform the author and I'll endeavor to patch them promptly.

Additional features have been outlined for future development, but the intent is support these by adding more options to the declaration interface, while maintaining backward compatibility.

See Class::MakeMethods::Docs::ToDo for other outstanding issues and development plans.

Support

If you have questions or feedback about this module, please feel free to contact the author at the below address. Although there is no formal support program, I do attempt to answer email promptly.

I would be particularly interested in any suggestions towards improving the documentation and correcting any Perl-version or platform dependencies, as well as general feedback and suggested additions.

Bug reports that contain a failing test case are greatly appreciated, and suggested patches will be promptly considered for inclusion in future releases.

To report bugs via the CPAN web tracking system, go to http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Class-MakeMethods or send mail to Dist=Class-MakeMethods#rt.cpan.org, replacing # with @.

Community

If you've found this module useful or have feedback about your experience with it, consider sharing your opinion with other Perl users by posting your comment to CPAN's ratings system:

• http://cpanratings.perl.org/rate/?distribution=Class-MakeMethods

For more general discussion, you may wish to post a message on PerlMonks or the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup:

• http://www.perlmonks.org/index.pl?node=Seekers%20of%20Perl%20Wisdom

• http://groups.google.com/groups?group=comp.lang.perl.misc

CREDITS AND COPYRIGHT

Author

Developed by Matthew Simon Cavalletto at Evolution Softworks. More free Perl software is available at www.evoscript.org.

You may contact the author directly at evo@cpan.org or simonm@cavalletto.org.

Feedback and Suggestions

Thanks to the following people for bug reports, suggestions, and other feedback:

Martyn J. Pearce
Scott R. Godin
Ron Savage
Jay Lawrence
Adam Spiers
Malcolm Cook
Terrence Brannon
Jared Rhine
Peter Chen
Mike Castle

Source Material

This package was inspired by the ground-breaking original closure-generating method maker module:

Class::MethodMaker, by Peter Seibel.

Additional inspiration, cool tricks, and blocks of useful code for this module were extracted from the following CPAN modules:

Class::Accessor, by Michael G Schwern 
Class::Contract, by Damian Conway
Class::SelfMethods, by Toby Everett

Copyright

Copyright 2002, 2003 Matthew Simon Cavalletto.

Portions copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Evolution Online Systems, Inc.

Based on Class::MethodMaker, originally developed by Peter Seibel. Portions Copyright 1996 Organic Online. Portions Copyright 2000 Martyn J. Pearce.

Class::MakeMethods::Emulator::accessors is based on accessors. Portions by Steve Purkis.

Class::MakeMethods::Emulator::AccessorFast is based on Class::Accessor::Fast. Portions Copyright 2000 Michael G Schwern.

Class::MakeMethods::Emulator::Inheritable is based on Class::Data::Inheritable. Portions Copyright 2000 Damian Conway and Michael G Schwern.

Class::MakeMethods::Emulator::mcoder is based on mcoder. Portions Copyright 2003 by Salvador Fandiño.

Class::MakeMethods::Emulator::Singleton is based on Class::Singleton, by Andy Wardley. Portions Copyright 1998 Canon Research Centre Europe Ltd.

Class::MakeMethods::Utility::Ref is based on Ref.pm. Portions Copyright 1994 David Muir Sharnoff.

License

You may use, modify, and distribute this software under the same terms as Perl.

cpanm Class::MakeMethods

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Class::MakeMethods