Re3: The costs of packages

[dragonchild]

Inheritance is not a requirement nor even desirable for my application.

It may not be for you, but this sounds like a really neat trick to keep in the toolbox, for similar issues. I would think that inheritance would work because the class would be compiled and its @ISA be set. Then, when a method is called, dispatch would take effect, right?

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We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

The idea is a little like C++ templates, except not quite so brain-meltingly complicated. -- TheDamian, Exegesis 6

Please remember that I'm crufty and crochety. All opinions are purely mine and all code is untested, unless otherwise specified.

[BrowserUk]

Like Abigail, I haven't really thought the inheritance thing through fully as I haven't the need for it, but what you say makes sense as far as I can tell. Once the package is initially generated it should act just like any other class (assuming you generate the right stuff:).

Perhaps the only awkward bit would be managing the process of generating superclasses if the user instantiates an instance of a subclass 2 or 3 levels down in a subclass hierachy?

use Class::AutoFactory;

my $rover = new Dog; 
# Is a subclass of Canine 
# Is subclass of Mammal 
# Is a subclass of Animal.

Ensuring that each of the parent classes comes into being in the right order would require a fairly detailed map of the class hierachy and might be a bit complex to program. Doable, but it would require a fair amount of thoughtful design to get it right in a way that is easily extensible and maintainable.

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Examine what is said, not who speaks.
"Efficiency is intelligent laziness." -David Dunham
"When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong." -Richard Buckminster Fuller
If I understand your problem, I can solve it! Of course, the same can be said for you.