CODEWITHSUNDEEP
perl
rpg
rpg

Reputation: 1652

function overloading by return type

Perl is one of such language which supports the function overloading by return type.

Simple example of this is wantarray().

Few nice modules are available in CPAN which extends this wantarray() and provide overloading for many other return types. These modules are Contextual::Return and Want. Unfortunately, I can not use these modules as both of these fails the perl critic with perl version 5.8.9 (I can not upgrade this perl version).

So, I am thinking to write my own module like Contextual::Return and Want but with very minimal. I tried to understand Contextual::Return and Want modules code, but I am not an expert.

I need function overloading for return types BOOL, OBJREF, LIST, SCALAR only.

Please help me by providing some guidelines, how can I start for it.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 562

Answers (1)

Borodin
Borodin

Reputation: 126742

Modules that play with Perl's syntax in the way that Contextual::Return and Want do are pretty much bound to fall foul of Perl::Critic. In this case the main transgressions are occasionally disabling strict and using subroutine prototypes, which are minimal.

I personally believe it is a foolish rule that insists that all code must pass an arbitrary set of tests with no exceptions, but I also think that any code that behaves very differently depending on the context in which it is called is likely to be badly designed and difficult to understand and maintain. It is rare to see even wantarray used, as Perl generally does the right thing without you having to explain.

I think you may have come across a module that looks interesting to use, and want to incorporate it into your code somehow. Can you change my mind by showing an example of a subroutine that would require the comprehensive context checking that you describe?

Upvotes: 6

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