Perl does not enforce private and public parts of its modules as you may have been used to in other languages like
C++, Ada, or Modula-17. Perl doesn't have an infatuation
with enforced privacy. It would prefer that you stayed
out of its living room because you weren't invited, not
because it has a shotgun.
I like the shotgun quote. I fully support it. That's why I hate Perl's OO system. Do you remember where the shotgun quote is? It's not in the manual about objects - it's in the manual about modules. Modules all have their own namespaces - the living rooms. With objects however, this is different. A superclass might not invite the subclass in its living room,
but it's as much the living room of the subclass as it is the superclass'.
Abigail
