NAME
Class::PseudoHash - Emulates Pseudo-Hash behaviour via overload
SYNOPSIS
use Class::PseudoHash;
my @args = ([qw/key1 key2 key3 key4/], [1 .. 10]);
my $ref1 = fields::phash(@args); # phash() override
my $ref2 = Class::PseudoHash->new(@args); # constructor syntaxDESCRIPTION
Due to its impact on overall performance of ordinary hashes, pseudo-hashes are deprecated in perl v5.8, and will cease to exist in perl v5.10. By then, the fields pragma is supposed to change to use a different implementation.
Although "Pseudo-hashes: Using an array as a hash" in perlref recommends against using the first-element-as-index behaviour, there are undoubtly many brave souls still writing such code, and fearing that the elimination of pseudo-hashes will require a massive rewrite of their programs.
As one of the primary victims, I tried to devise a drop-in solution that could emulate exactly the same semantic of pseudo-hashes, thus keeping all my legacy code intact. So Class::PseudoHash was born.
Hence, if you're using the preferred fields::phash() function, just write:
use fields;
use Class::PseudoHash;then everything will work like before. If you are creating pseudo-hashes by hand ([{}] anyone?), just write this:
$ref = Class::PseudoHash->new;and use the returned object in whatever way you like.
NOTES
If you set $Class::PseudoHash::FixedKeys to a false value and tries to access a non-existent hash key, then a new pseudo-hash entry will be created silently. This is most useful if you're already using untyped pseudo-hashes, and don't want the compile-time checking feature.
Compile-time validating of keys is not possible with this module, for obvious reasons. Also, the performance will not be as fast as typed pseudo-hashes (but generally faster than untyped ones).
SEE ALSO
fields, "Pseudo-hashes: Using an array as a hash" in perlref
AUTHORS
Autrijus Tang <autrijus@autrijus.org>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2001 by Autrijus Tang <autrijus@autrijus.org>.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.