Joseph F. Ryan: # Brent Dax wrote # # >To tell you the truth, I don't consider arrayrefs references # anymore. # >They're just Array objects that don't happen to be in @whatever # >symbols. I don't know if this is the official view, but that fits my # >brain better. # > # # So you're saying that classes should stringify to a # pretty-print of their public members?
No, because that wouldn't reveal enough for an equality check. At the same time, however, exposing private members would be wrong, especially since editing the string and creating a new instance from it would allow the user to manipulate private members. What I'm saying is that .str and .identity (for lack of a better name) are identical in Object, but classes should feel free to override .str if they have a better WTDI. The built-in classes (Array, Hash, etc.) should override .str to yield their members in some format (probably influenced by properties). --Brent Dax <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> @roles=map {"Parrot $_"} qw(embedding regexen Configure) "If you want to propagate an outrageously evil idea, your conclusion must be brazenly clear, but your proof unintelligible." --Ayn Rand, explaining how today's philosophies came to be