Re^2: Dynamically generate setter/getter methods [Updated]

[pryrt]

I learned and used the AUTOLOAD methodolgy for the first time when I was developing the Editor component for Win32::Mechanize::NotepadPlusPlus.

For that, I was mapping a pre-defined list of function prototypes I was stealing from drawing on from the API for a Notepad++ plugin which used some other language for automating Notepad++, and mapping those prototypes to the underlying Windows messages for the Scintilla component of Notepad++; there were about 10 common mappings from function requirements to message requirements. So, when I saw I had hundreds (over a thousand, I think but I didn't re-count) of functions which were just going to follow the same 10 or so patterns, I wanted to obey DRY, so decided I had to finally figure out what AUTOLOAD was, and whether it would help me.

If AUTOLOAD hadn't done what I wanted, I would have just manipulated the symbol table myself... but since AUTOLOAD was a feature of Perl that I hadn't explored, I wanted to see if I could make it work. In the end, AUTOLOAD wasn't that hard for me to learn, and it accomplished my goal pretty handily.

I wouldn't call myself an AUTOLOAD expert, nor do I know all the times when it's benefits would really shine, but I found it a useful tool -- and now I have an example implementation that I should theoretically understand a few years down the road, the next time I want to try to AUTOLOAD.