Re^2: use deprecated;

[adrianh]

Sneaky. Like it.

You'd also need to check that the subroutine actually exists at INIT time, and wrap AUTOLOAD with something appropriate if it's defined.

As liz points out this won't work in mod_perl, eval and other places where the INIT phase has already occured.

I guess you could use a source filter to inline the wrapping code - but that would be really evil ;-)

[Aristotle]

Actually, you don't even need to check whether the function exists. If you take a reference to a named but undefined function, it magically works once that function is defined. Perl is devious that way.

#!/usr/bin/perl

$_ = \&x;
*x = sub { print "Oh my\n" };
$_->();

This actually prints "Oh my".

[adrianh]

Actually, you don't even need to check whether the function exists. If you take a reference to a named but undefined function, it magically works once that function is defined. Perl is devious that way.

You're quite correct - I'm an idiot.

In fact, I'm an idiot on two counts. My AUTOLOAD comment is equally bogus. Since everything is happening at INIT time the AUTOLOAD subroutine will already be defined.

I restate my "sneaky" comment. Very nice :-)