Class::Constructor ------------------ This is Class::Constructor, a package that simplifies the creation of object constructors in your own modules. It is meant to work alongside Class::Accessor. Use Class::Accessor to automate the creation of your object accessor methods, and Class::Constructor to automate the creation of your object constructor methods. Instead of writing: sub new { my $proto = shift; my $class = ref $proto || $proto; my $self = {}; bless $self, $class; my %args = @_; foreach my $attr ('first_attribute', 'second_attribute') { $self->$attr($args{$attr}); } $self->_init(); return $self; } You can just write: CLASS->mk_constructor( Auto_Init => [ 'first_attribute', 'second_attribute' ], ); (There are other features as well for creating more sophisticated constructors. See the docs for details.) The syntax is loosely based on Class::Accessor, by Michael G. Schwern. Prerequisites ------------- * Perl 5.005 or higher Installing ---------- On Unix systems install Class::Constructor as you would any other perl module: $ perl Makefile.PL $ make $ make test $ make install To read the docs, type: perldoc Class::Constructor On systems without make (e.g. Windows), first copy Constructor.pm into your local library directory (e.g. C:\PERL\lib\site\Class). To read the docs, run them through the pod2html program: perl -S pod2html.pl Constructor.pm > Constructor.html And then open the html files in your web browser. Homepage -------- http://www.occamstoothbrush.com/perl/ Author ------ Michael Graham Copyright (C) 2001 Michael Graham. All rights reserved. This program is free software. You can use, modify and distribute it under the same terms as Perl itself.