NAME

Pony::Object the object system.

OVERVIEW

Pony::Object is an object system, which provides simple way to use cute objects.

SYNOPSIS

use Pony::Object;

DESCRIPTION

When some package uses Pony::Object, it's becomes strict (and shows warnings) and modern (can use perl 5.10 features like as say). Also dump function is redefined and shows data structure. It's useful for debugging.

Specific moments

Besides new function dump Pony::Object has other specific moments.

has

Keyword has declares new fields. All fields are public. You can also describe object methods via has... If you want.

package News;
use Pony::Object;

    # Fields
    has 'title';
    has text => '';
    has authors => [ qw/Alice Bob/ ];
    
    # Methods
    sub printTitle
        {
            my $this = shift;
            say $this->title;
        }

    sub printAuthors
        {
            my $this = shift;
            print @{ $this->authors };
        }
1;

package main;

my $news = new News;
$news->printAuthors();
$news->title = 'Something important';
$news->printTitle();

Pony::Object fields assigned via "=". For example: $obj->field = 'a'.

new

Pony::Object doesn't have method new. In fact, of course it has. But new is an internal function, so you should not use it if you want not have additional fun. Instead of this Pony::Object has init function, where you can write the same, what you wish write in new. init is after-hook for new.

package News;
use Pony::Object;

    has title => undef;
    has lower => undef;
    
    sub init
        {
            my $this = shift;
            $this->title = shift;
            $this->lower = lc $this->title;
        }
1;

package main;

my $news = new News('Big Event!');

print $news->lower;

ALL

If you wanna get all default values of Pony::Object-based class (fields, of course), you can call ALL method. I don't know why you need them, but you can do it.

package News;
use Pony::Object;

    has 'title';
    has text => '';
    has authors => [ qw/Alice Bob/ ];
    
1;

package main;

my $news = new News;

print for keys %{ $news->ALL() };

toHash

Get object's data structure and return it in hash.

package News;
use Pony::Object;

    has title => 'World';
    has text => 'Hello';
    
1;

package main;

my $news = new News;
print $news->toHash()->{text};
print $news->toHash()->{title};

dump

Return string which shows object current struct.

package News;
use Pony::Object;

    has title => 'World';
    has text => 'Hello';
    
1;

package main;

my $news = new News;
$news->text = 'Hi';
print $news->dump();

Returns

$VAR1 = bless( {
  'text' => 'Hi',
  'title' => 'World'
}, 'News' );

protected, private properties

For properties you can use has keyword if your variable starts with _ (for protected) or __ (for private).

package News;
use Pony::Object;

    has text => '';
    has __authors => [ qw/Alice Bob/ ];
    
    sub getAuthorString
        {
            my $this = shift;
            return join(' ', @{ $this->__authors });
        }
    
1;

package main;

my $news = new News;
say $news->getAuthorString();

Or the same but with keywords public, protected and private.

package News;
use Pony::Object;

    public text => '';
    private authors => [ qw/Alice Bob/ ];
    
    sub getAuthorString
        {
            my $this = shift;
            return join(' ', @{ $this->authors });
        }
    
1;

package main;

my $news = new News;
say $news->getAuthorString();

protected, private method

To define access for methods you can use attributes Public, Private and Protected.

package News;
use Pony::Object;

    public text => '';
    private authors => [ qw/Alice Bob/ ];
    
    sub getAuthorString : Public
        {
            return shift->joinAuthors(', ');
        }
    
    sub joinAuthors : Private
        {
            my $this = shift;
            my $delim = shift;
            
            return join( $delim, @{ $this->authors } );
        }
1;

package main;

my $news = new News;
say $news->getAuthorString();

Inheritance

To define base classes you should set them as params on Pony::Object use. For example, use Pony::Object 'Base::Class';

package FirstPonyClass;
use Pony::Object;

    # properties
    has a => 'a';
    has d => 'd';
    
    # method
    has b => sub
        {
            my $this = shift;
               $this->a = 'b';
               
            return ( @_ ?
                        shift:
                        'b'  );
        };
    
    # traditional perl method
    sub c { 'c' }

1;

package SecondPonyClass;
# extends FirstPonyClass
use Pony::Object qw/FirstPonyClass/;

    # Redefine property.
    has d => 'dd';
    
    # Redefine method.
    has b => sub
        {
            my $this = shift;
               $this->a = 'bb';
               
            return ( @_ ?
                        shift:
                        'bb'  );
        };
    
    # New method.
    has e => sub {'e'};

1;

Singletons

For singletons Pony::Object has simple syntax. You just should declare that on use Pony::Object;

package Notes;
use Pony::Object 'singleton';

    has list => [];
    
    sub add
        {
            my $this = shift;
            push @{ $this->list }, @_;
        }
    
    sub flush
        {
            my $this = shift;
            $this->list = [];
        }

1;

package main;
use Notes;

my $n1 = new Notes;
my $n2 = new Notes;

$n1->add( qw/eat sleep/ );
$n1->add( 'Meet with Mary at 8 o`clock' );

$n2->flush;

# Em... When I must meet Mary? 

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2011 - 2012, Georgy Bazhukov.

This program is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Artistic License version 2.0.

cpanm Pony::Object

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Pony::Object