perlnews jdhedden After several weeks of intense development, I feel comfortable in releasing (unleashing?) a new module on CPAN: <a href="http://search.cpan.org/search?module=Object%3A%3AInsideOut">Object::InsideOut</a> Object::InsideOut provides comprehensive support for implementing classes using the inside-out object model. It implements inside-out objects as anonymous scalar references that have been blessed into a class with the scalar containing the ID for the object (usually a sequence). Object data (i.e., fields) are stored in arrays within the class's package and are indexed on the object's ID. This module offers all the capabilities of Class::Std with the following additional key advantages: <ul> <li>Speed - Up to 40% faster than 'blessed hash' objects for fetching and setting data, and 2 to 6 times faster than Class::Std. </li> <li>Threads - Object::InsideOut is thread safe, and thoroughly supports sharing objects between threads using 'threads::shared'. Class::Std is not usable in threaded applications (or applications that use <code>fork</code> under ActivePerl). </li> <li>Flexibility - Allows control over object ID specification, accessor naming, parameter name matching, and more. <li>mod_perl and Runtime Loading - Usable from within mod_perl, and supports classes that may be loaded at runtime (i.e., using eval { require ...; };). <li>Exception Objects - As recommended in 'Perl Best Practices', Object::InsideOut uses Exception::Class for handling errors in an OO-compatible manner. </li> <li>Object Serialization - Object dumping and reloading can be accomplished in either an automated fashion or through the use of class-supplied subroutines. Class::Std provides a _DUMP method that is handy for debugging only, and provides no reloading capability.</li></ul> Rationale: Prior to the publication of Perl Best Practices, I came across discussions of inside-out objects here on Perl Monks, and I liked the concept so much that I converted my other module (<a href="http://search.cpan.org/search?module=Math%3A%3ARandom%3A%3AMT%3A%3AAuto">Math::Random::MT::Auto</a>) to using inside-out objects, including tackling the problem of using inside-out objects in threaded code (i.e., <code>use threads;</code>). With the release of Perl Best Practices, I looked at converting Math::Random::MT::Auto to using Class::Std instead of my own inside-out object support code. To my dismay, I found that Class::Std was not thread-safe. Further, its object structure (empty scalar ref) and single method of determining object IDs (refaddr) were incompatible with what I had written. While I laud Damian Conway for the work he did on Class::Std, its slowness (due to calculating the object ID at every turn), lack of thread support, and inflexibilities (lack of support for user-supplied object ID, accessor naming conventions, and so on) lead me to further development of my inside-out support code. In overcoming these deficiencies, the resulting module architecture was such that it could not be combined with Class:Std, and thus required the issuance of an new and separate module to CPAN. As part of the development of this module, I made sure that it incorporated all of the functionality of Class::Std so that there would be no want for using this module. Further, I discovered that, unlike hash-based objects, it was possible to share scalar-based objects between threads when using <code>threads::shared</code>. All in all, I feel that Object::InsideOut provides comprehensive support for the development of inside-out object classes that provides speed and flexibility, as well as the capability to work with objects in a threaded application complete with object sharing, if needed. Plea: I would like to invite my fellow monks to look at what I've developed. Hopefully, some of you may find it useful. I would, of course, appreciate any critiques, suggestions, ideas, etc. that you might have. Thank you. Update: The lastest version of Object::InsideOut supports using arrays for storing object field data. This resulted in an impressive speed improvement (mentioned above) that I hope will be a further incentive to my fellow monks to give Object::InsideOut a try.  <div class="pmsig"><div class="pmsig-313108"> Remember: There's always one more bug. </div></div>