On Tue, 16 Sep 2003, Steve Purkis wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> With the help of others, I've been bashing out an 'accessors' pragma[1]:
>
> use accessors qw( foo bar baz );
>
> There are two popular styles of accessor I'd like to support:
>
> # classic:
> print "I set foo!" if $obj->foo( $a_value );
>
> # chaining:
> $obj->foo( $a_value )
> ->bar( $another_value );
This whole chained accessors thing is a definite perl-ism and will do you
no favours with people for whom Perl is not a primary language.
Possible return values for write-accessors:
true/false
undef/error message
the previous value
the new value
[I would never have considered the object itself a valid return value
until I saw Perl people doing it. I still don't.]
> Question is: what style should be the default? I'm not looking for a
> debate here, just some numbers. If you don't wanna post to the list,
> reply to me directly.
I tend to use a simple true/false, except in complex cases where I return
undef or an error message. There's no point putting any effort into giving
the programmer something he already has. All of the other options fall
into this category [object, new value, previous value].
S.
--
Shevek http://www.anarres.org/
I am the Borg. http://www.gothnicity.org/
