Re: messing with @ISA - unblessing

[crashtest]

I see your code and I think Decorator pattern. Basically, you create a class that wraps the original object, and dispatches all method calls to the original object, except for those you want to override/modify, or those that are new. The advantage here is if some other part of your code is referencing the object you are monkeying with, it won't suddenly find its behavior changed.

In Perl, you get the added bonus of being able to implement all the methods that just dispatch to the original object using AUTOLOAD. Below is an example I've used before, YMMV.

package MyDecorator;

sub new{
    my ($class, $wrapped, %options) = @_;
    my $self = {
        wrapped     => $wrapped,
        options     => \%options
    };

    bless $self, __PACKAGE__;
}

sub method1{
    my $self = shift;
    my $wrapped = $self->{'wrapped'}

    # Do something different than what
    # $wrapped->method1 would do.
    # ...
}

sub method2{
    my $self = shift;
    my $wrapped = $self->{'wrapped'}

    # method2 is a new method that now provides additional
    # functionality for the object.
}

# Implement autoload to defer all the methods we can't handle to the
# wrapped class.
sub AUTOLOAD{
    return if our $AUTOLOAD =~ /::DESTROY$/;

    my $self = shift;
    my ($method, @namespace) = reverse(split '::' => $AUTOLOAD);

    my $wrapped = $self->{'wrapped'};
    if ($wrapped->can($method)){
        no strict 'refs';
        $AUTOLOAD->($wrapped, @_);
    }
    else{
        die "Cannot run or defer method \"$method\"!";
    }
}

(All this goes to show, once again, TIMTOWTDI. But also: I am no expert on object oriented design, so take this with a grain of salt.)

[Your Mother]

Applying this, as I learned this week, is trivial with Moose (or Mouse). Here is a snippet that installs a Template object inside your object, and only when needed, and then dispatches--via the handles param which has even more sugar than shown--any calls on your $object->process to the TT2 object exactly as if it were called instead. It's really very hot.

use Mouse;

has "tt2" => ( is => "ro",
               lazy => 1, # not always used
               isa => "Template",
               default => sub {
                   require Template;
                   Template->new();
               },
               handles => [qw( process )],
             );

Update (2017-07-11): moved use to require inside the default sub. A better practice if the object is not always used.

[grep]

A perl based description of the Decorator Pattern

[Boldra]

Many thanks for your suggestion, but AUTOLOAD only lets me define new methods, not redefine old ones, which is one of my aims.

[crashtest]

I don't understand how that's a problem. The AUTOLOAD goes in the Decorator class, not the original object's class. The Decorator is new, so I wouldn't expect it to subclass anything else...?

Of course, you can implement a Decorator class without AUTOLOAD, it's just more tedious as you have to write a little method each time, and maintain the Decorator as the original object's class changes. Based off your example, maybe something like this:

package Curse::Older;

sub new{
    my ($class, $player, $older_by) = @_;
    my $self = {
        player   => $player,
        older_by => $older_by,
        cursed   => 1
    };
    bless $self, $class;
}

# name is just simply delegated
sub name{
    my $self = shift;
    $self->{'player'}->name(@_);
}

# age is however intercepted and modified
sub age{
    my $self = shift;
    my $player = $self->{'player'};
    my $age = $player->age();
    if ($self->{'cursed'}){
        $age + $self->{'older_by'};
    } else{
        $age;
    }
}

# Meanwhile...

package main;

my $player = new Player('Jim', 30);

# curse Jim to make him 10 years older
my $cursed_player = Curse::Older->new($player, +10);

Anyway, it looks like you're going down the re-blessing route. The Java programmer in me thinks that's nuts, but the Perl hacker in me admires what the language lets you do!