view release on metacpan or  search on metacpan

Damn.pm  view on Meta::CPAN

Acme::Damn - 'Unbless' Perl objects.


=head1 SYNOPSIS

  use Acme::Damn;

  my $ref = ... some reference ...
  my $obj = bless $ref , 'Some::Class';

  ... do something with your object ...

     $ref = damn $obj;   # recover the original reference (unblessed)

  ... neither $ref nor $obj are Some::Class objects ...


=head1 DESCRIPTION

B<Acme::Damn> provides a single routine, B<damn()>, which takes a blessed
reference (a Perl object), and I<unblesses> it, to return the original
reference.


=head2 EXPORT

By default, B<Acme::Damn> exports the method B<damn()> into the current
namespace. Aliases for B<damn()> (see below) may be imported upon request.

=head2 Methods

=over 4

=item B<damn> I<object>

B<damn()> accepts a single blessed reference as its argument, and returns
that reference unblessed. If I<object> is not a blessed reference, then
B<damn()> will C<die> with an error.


=item B<bless> I<reference>

=item B<bless> I<reference> [ , I<package> ]

=item B<bless> I<reference> [ , undef ]

Optionally, B<Acme::Damn> will modify the behaviour of C<bless> to
allow the passing of an explicit C<undef> as the target package to invoke
B<damn()>:

    use Acme::Damn  qw( bless );

    my  $obj = ... some blessed reference ...;

    # the following statements are equivalent
    my  $ref = bless $obj , undef;
    my  $ref = damn $obj;

B<NOTE:> The modification of C<bless> is lexically scoped to the current
package, and is I<not> global.


=back


=head2 Method Aliases

Not everyone likes to damn the same way or in the same language, so
B<Acme::Damn> offers the ability to specify any alias on import, provided
that alias is a valid Perl subroutine name (i.e. all characters match C<\w>).

  use Acme::Damn qw( unbless );
  use Acme::Damn qw( foo );
  use Acme::Damn qw( unblessthyself );
  use Acme::Damn qw( recant );

Version 0.02 supported a defined list of aliases, and this has been replaced
in v0.03 by the ability to import any alias for C<damn()>.


=head1 WARNING

Just as C<bless> doesn't call an object's initialisation code, C<damn> doesn't
invoke an object's C<DESTROY> method. For objects that need to be C<DESTROY>ed,
either don't C<damn> them, or call C<DESTROY> before judgement is passed.


=head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Claes Jacobsson E<lt>claes@surfar.nuE<gt> for suggesting the use of
aliases, and Bo Lindbergh E<lt>blgl@cpan.orgE<gt> for the suggested
modification of C<bless>.


=head1 SEE ALSO

L<bless|perlfunc/bless>, L<perlboot>, L<perltoot>, L<perltooc>, L<perlbot>,
L<perlobj>.


=head1 AUTHOR

Ian Brayshaw, E<lt>ibb@cpan.orgE<gt>


=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright 2003-2016 Ian Brayshaw

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

=cut