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Acme-CPANModules-0.1.9
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/ Acme::CPANModules

NAME

Acme::CPANModules - Categorizing CPAN modules

SPECIFICATION VERSION

0.1

VERSION

This document describes version 0.1.9 of Acme::CPANModules (from Perl distribution Acme-CPANModules), released on 2021-03-23.

DESCRIPTION

With the multitude of modules that are available on CPAN, it is sometimes difficult for a user to choose an appropriate module for a task or find other modules related in some ways to a module. Various projects like CPAN Ratings (where users rate and review a distribution; now no longer accepting new submission) or MetaCPAN (which has a ++ feature where logged-in users can press a button to ++ a module and the website will tally the number of ++'s a distribution has) help to some extent. There are also various blog posts by Perl programmers which review modules, e.g. CPAN Module Reviews by Neil Bowers.

Acme::CPANModules is another mechanism to help, to let someone categorize modules in whatever way she likes.

A related website/online service for "CPAN modules" is coming (when I eventually get to it :-), or perhaps when I get some help).

CREATING AN ACME::CPANMODULES MODULE

The first step is to decide on the name of your module. It must be under the Acme::CPANModules:: namespace. For example, if you create a list of your favorite modules, you can use Acme::CPANModules::YOURCPANID::Favorite. Or if you are creating a list of modules that predict the future, you can choose Acme::CPANModules::PredictingTheFuture.

Inside the module, you must declare a hash named $LIST:

our $LIST = {
    ...
};

The names of the keys in the hash must follow DefHash convention. The basic structure is this:

# an example module list
{
    summary => 'My favorite modules',
    description => <<'_',
(Some longer description, in Markdown format)

This is just a list of my favorite modules.
_

    ## define features to be used by entries. this can be used to generate a
    ## feature comparison matrix among the entries.
    # entry_features => { # optional
    #     feature1 => {summary=>'Summary of feature1', schema=>'str*'}, # default schema is 'bool' if not specified
    #     feature2 => {summary=>'Summary of feature2', ...},
    #     feature3 => {...},
    #     feature4 => {...},
    #     ...
    # },

    entries => [
        {...},
        ...
    ],

    ## specify Bencher scenario properties; "bench_" prefix will be removed
    ## when creating scenario record. see Bencher for more details.
    # bench_datasets => [ ... ],
    # bench_extra_modules => [ ... ],

    ## optional. Instruct cpanmodules script to not show the entries when
    ## viewing the list. This is sometimes convenient when the description
    ## already mentions all the entries.
    #'x.app.cpanmodules.show_entries' => 0,

}

Each entry is another DefHash:

# an example module entry
{
    module => 'Data::Dump',
    summary => 'Pretty output',
    description => <<'_',
Data::Dump is my favorite dumping module because it outputs Perl code that
is pretty and readable.
_

    # rating => 10, # optional, on a 1-10 scale

    # alternate_modules => [...], # if you are reviewing an undesirable module and want to suggest better alternative(s)

    # related_modules => ['Data::Dump::Color', 'Data::Dumper'], # if you want to specify related modules that are not listed on the other entries of the same list

    ## specify which features this entry supports/doesn't support. this can be
    ## used to generate feature comparison matrix. see
    ## Acme::CPANModulesUtil::FeatureMatrix.
    # features => {
    #     feature1 => 'foo',   # string, value is "foo"
    #     feature2 => 0,       # bool, value is false ("no")
    #                          # since feature3 is not specified for this module, the value is "N/A"
    #     feature4 => {value=>0, summary=>'Irrelevant because foo bar'},  # bool, value is false. with additional note.
    #     ...
    # },

    ## specify Bencher scenario participant's properties; "bench_" prefix will
    ## be removed when creating participant record.
    # bench_code => sub { ... }, # or
    # bench_code_template => 'Data::Dump::dump(<data>)',
    # ...

    # list what functions are in the module. currently this is mainly used for
    # specifying benchmark instructions for the functions.
    functions => {
        func1 => {
            bench_code_template => 'Data::Dump::dump([])',
        },
    },

}

That's it. After you have completed your list, publish your Acme::CPANModules module to CPAN.

Here's a sample of one of the simplest $LIST you can have:

$LIST = {
    summary => 'Modules that predict the future',
    entries => [
        {module=>'Zorb'},
        {module=>'Madame::Zita'},
    ],
};

Here's another, more expanded sample:

$LIST = {
    summary => 'Modules that predict the future',
    description => <<'_',

This list catalogs modules that predict the future. Yes, the future is unpredictable. But we can try anyway, right?

_ entries => [ { module => 'Zorb', summary => 'Contact the API for the strange crystal Zorb', description => <<'_',

This module is an API client to Zorb, a strange crystal that supposedly fell from the sky in 2017 near Ozark, that can change color depending on what you feed to it. The API connects to Zorb API server managed by Crooks, Inc.

_ }, { module => 'Madame::Zita', summary => 'Ask Madame Zita the fortune teller', }, ], };

For more examples, see existing Acme::CPANModules::* modules on CPAN.

If you are using Dist::Zilla to release your distribution, this Pod::Weaver plugin might be useful for you: Pod::Weaver::Plugin::Acme::CPANModules. It will create an =head2 Included modules section which is POD rendering of your module list so users reading your module's documentation can immediately read your list.

USING ACME::CPANMODULES MODULES

You can install the cpanmodules CLI script (from the App::cpanmodules distribution). It can list installed Acme::CPANModules modules and view list entries. To install all modules listed on an Acme::CPANModules module, you can do something like:

% cpanmodules ls-entries Org | cpanm -n

Putting similar/related modules together in an Acme::CPANModules can also help the lcpan script find related modules (lcpan related-mods). See the lcpan documentation or lcpan related-mods --help for more details.

As mentioned earlier, a website/online service that collects and indexes all Acme::CPANModules modules on CPAN is coming in the future. Meanwhile, there's MetaCPAN.

HOMEPAGE

Please visit the project's homepage at https://metacpan.org/release/Acme-CPANModules.

SOURCE

Source repository is at https://github.com/perlancar/perl-Acme-CPANModules.

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website https://github.com/perlancar/perl-Acme-CPANModules/issues

When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.

SEE ALSO

Acme::CPANModules::* modules

cpanmodules from App::cpanmodules

Bencher

For categorizing CPAN authors, there are also the Acme::CPANAuthors project, complete with its own website.

AUTHOR

perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2021, 2019, 2018 by perlancar@cpan.org.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.