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authorSiep Kroonenberg <siepo@cybercomm.nl>2011-02-17 12:20:49 +0000
committerSiep Kroonenberg <siepo@cybercomm.nl>2011-02-17 12:20:49 +0000
commit316ee97c621496b0fe3267f57cce81bee44ca1e6 (patch)
treecb2cab1192b4f58a7971af19b213e980bceda4b4 /Master/tlpkg/tlperl/lib/overload.pm
parentcd0f87b5d39480d85ad9bd4ee37f520f75bed560 (diff)
Moving old tlperl prior to committing new one
git-svn-id: svn://tug.org/texlive/trunk@21422 c570f23f-e606-0410-a88d-b1316a301751
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diff --git a/Master/tlpkg/tlperl/lib/overload.pm b/Master/tlpkg/tlperl/lib/overload.pm
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--- a/Master/tlpkg/tlperl/lib/overload.pm
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,1499 +0,0 @@
-package overload;
-
-our $VERSION = '1.07';
-
-sub nil {}
-
-sub OVERLOAD {
- $package = shift;
- my %arg = @_;
- my ($sub, $fb);
- $ {$package . "::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Register with magic by touching.
- *{$package . "::()"} = \&nil; # Make it findable via fetchmethod.
- for (keys %arg) {
- if ($_ eq 'fallback') {
- $fb = $arg{$_};
- } else {
- $sub = $arg{$_};
- if (not ref $sub and $sub !~ /::/) {
- $ {$package . "::(" . $_} = $sub;
- $sub = \&nil;
- }
- #print STDERR "Setting `$ {'package'}::\cO$_' to \\&`$sub'.\n";
- *{$package . "::(" . $_} = \&{ $sub };
- }
- }
- ${$package . "::()"} = $fb; # Make it findable too (fallback only).
-}
-
-sub import {
- $package = (caller())[0];
- # *{$package . "::OVERLOAD"} = \&OVERLOAD;
- shift;
- $package->overload::OVERLOAD(@_);
-}
-
-sub unimport {
- $package = (caller())[0];
- ${$package . "::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Upgrade the table
- shift;
- for (@_) {
- if ($_ eq 'fallback') {
- undef $ {$package . "::()"};
- } else {
- delete $ {$package . "::"}{"(" . $_};
- }
- }
-}
-
-sub Overloaded {
- my $package = shift;
- $package = ref $package if ref $package;
- $package->can('()');
-}
-
-sub ov_method {
- my $globref = shift;
- return undef unless $globref;
- my $sub = \&{*$globref};
- return $sub if $sub ne \&nil;
- return shift->can($ {*$globref});
-}
-
-sub OverloadedStringify {
- my $package = shift;
- $package = ref $package if ref $package;
- #$package->can('(""')
- ov_method mycan($package, '(""'), $package
- or ov_method mycan($package, '(0+'), $package
- or ov_method mycan($package, '(bool'), $package
- or ov_method mycan($package, '(nomethod'), $package;
-}
-
-sub Method {
- my $package = shift;
- if(ref $package) {
- local $@;
- local $!;
- require Scalar::Util;
- $package = Scalar::Util::blessed($package);
- return undef if !defined $package;
- }
- #my $meth = $package->can('(' . shift);
- ov_method mycan($package, '(' . shift), $package;
- #return $meth if $meth ne \&nil;
- #return $ {*{$meth}};
-}
-
-sub AddrRef {
- my $package = ref $_[0];
- return "$_[0]" unless $package;
-
- local $@;
- local $!;
- require Scalar::Util;
- my $class = Scalar::Util::blessed($_[0]);
- my $class_prefix = defined($class) ? "$class=" : "";
- my $type = Scalar::Util::reftype($_[0]);
- my $addr = Scalar::Util::refaddr($_[0]);
- return sprintf("$class_prefix$type(0x%x)", $addr);
-}
-
-*StrVal = *AddrRef;
-
-sub mycan { # Real can would leave stubs.
- my ($package, $meth) = @_;
-
- my $mro = mro::get_linear_isa($package);
- foreach my $p (@$mro) {
- my $fqmeth = $p . q{::} . $meth;
- return \*{$fqmeth} if defined &{$fqmeth};
- }
-
- return undef;
-}
-
-%constants = (
- 'integer' => 0x1000, # HINT_NEW_INTEGER
- 'float' => 0x2000, # HINT_NEW_FLOAT
- 'binary' => 0x4000, # HINT_NEW_BINARY
- 'q' => 0x8000, # HINT_NEW_STRING
- 'qr' => 0x10000, # HINT_NEW_RE
- );
-
-%ops = ( with_assign => "+ - * / % ** << >> x .",
- assign => "+= -= *= /= %= **= <<= >>= x= .=",
- num_comparison => "< <= > >= == !=",
- '3way_comparison'=> "<=> cmp",
- str_comparison => "lt le gt ge eq ne",
- binary => '& &= | |= ^ ^=',
- unary => "neg ! ~",
- mutators => '++ --',
- func => "atan2 cos sin exp abs log sqrt int",
- conversion => 'bool "" 0+',
- iterators => '<>',
- dereferencing => '${} @{} %{} &{} *{}',
- matching => '~~',
- special => 'nomethod fallback =');
-
-use warnings::register;
-sub constant {
- # Arguments: what, sub
- while (@_) {
- if (@_ == 1) {
- warnings::warnif ("Odd number of arguments for overload::constant");
- last;
- }
- elsif (!exists $constants {$_ [0]}) {
- warnings::warnif ("`$_[0]' is not an overloadable type");
- }
- elsif (!ref $_ [1] || "$_[1]" !~ /(^|=)CODE\(0x[0-9a-f]+\)$/) {
- # Can't use C<ref $_[1] eq "CODE"> above as code references can be
- # blessed, and C<ref> would return the package the ref is blessed into.
- if (warnings::enabled) {
- $_ [1] = "undef" unless defined $_ [1];
- warnings::warn ("`$_[1]' is not a code reference");
- }
- }
- else {
- $^H{$_[0]} = $_[1];
- $^H |= $constants{$_[0]};
- }
- shift, shift;
- }
-}
-
-sub remove_constant {
- # Arguments: what, sub
- while (@_) {
- delete $^H{$_[0]};
- $^H &= ~ $constants{$_[0]};
- shift, shift;
- }
-}
-
-1;
-
-__END__
-
-=head1 NAME
-
-overload - Package for overloading Perl operations
-
-=head1 SYNOPSIS
-
- package SomeThing;
-
- use overload
- '+' => \&myadd,
- '-' => \&mysub;
- # etc
- ...
-
- package main;
- $a = SomeThing->new( 57 );
- $b=5+$a;
- ...
- if (overload::Overloaded $b) {...}
- ...
- $strval = overload::StrVal $b;
-
-=head1 DESCRIPTION
-
-This pragma allows overloading of Perl's operators for a class.
-To overload built-in functions, see L<perlsub/Overriding Built-in Functions> instead.
-
-=head2 Declaration of overloaded functions
-
-The compilation directive
-
- package Number;
- use overload
- "+" => \&add,
- "*=" => "muas";
-
-declares function Number::add() for addition, and method muas() in
-the "class" C<Number> (or one of its base classes)
-for the assignment form C<*=> of multiplication.
-
-Arguments of this directive come in (key, value) pairs. Legal values
-are values legal inside a C<&{ ... }> call, so the name of a
-subroutine, a reference to a subroutine, or an anonymous subroutine
-will all work. Note that values specified as strings are
-interpreted as methods, not subroutines. Legal keys are listed below.
-
-The subroutine C<add> will be called to execute C<$a+$b> if $a
-is a reference to an object blessed into the package C<Number>, or if $a is
-not an object from a package with defined mathemagic addition, but $b is a
-reference to a C<Number>. It can also be called in other situations, like
-C<$a+=7>, or C<$a++>. See L<MAGIC AUTOGENERATION>. (Mathemagical
-methods refer to methods triggered by an overloaded mathematical
-operator.)
-
-Since overloading respects inheritance via the @ISA hierarchy, the
-above declaration would also trigger overloading of C<+> and C<*=> in
-all the packages which inherit from C<Number>.
-
-=head2 Calling Conventions for Binary Operations
-
-The functions specified in the C<use overload ...> directive are called
-with three (in one particular case with four, see L<Last Resort>)
-arguments. If the corresponding operation is binary, then the first
-two arguments are the two arguments of the operation. However, due to
-general object calling conventions, the first argument should always be
-an object in the package, so in the situation of C<7+$a>, the
-order of the arguments is interchanged. It probably does not matter
-when implementing the addition method, but whether the arguments
-are reversed is vital to the subtraction method. The method can
-query this information by examining the third argument, which can take
-three different values:
-
-=over 7
-
-=item FALSE
-
-the order of arguments is as in the current operation.
-
-=item TRUE
-
-the arguments are reversed.
-
-=item C<undef>
-
-the current operation is an assignment variant (as in
-C<$a+=7>), but the usual function is called instead. This additional
-information can be used to generate some optimizations. Compare
-L<Calling Conventions for Mutators>.
-
-=back
-
-=head2 Calling Conventions for Unary Operations
-
-Unary operation are considered binary operations with the second
-argument being C<undef>. Thus the functions that overloads C<{"++"}>
-is called with arguments C<($a,undef,'')> when $a++ is executed.
-
-=head2 Calling Conventions for Mutators
-
-Two types of mutators have different calling conventions:
-
-=over
-
-=item C<++> and C<-->
-
-The routines which implement these operators are expected to actually
-I<mutate> their arguments. So, assuming that $obj is a reference to a
-number,
-
- sub incr { my $n = $ {$_[0]}; ++$n; $_[0] = bless \$n}
-
-is an appropriate implementation of overloaded C<++>. Note that
-
- sub incr { ++$ {$_[0]} ; shift }
-
-is OK if used with preincrement and with postincrement. (In the case
-of postincrement a copying will be performed, see L<Copy Constructor>.)
-
-=item C<x=> and other assignment versions
-
-There is nothing special about these methods. They may change the
-value of their arguments, and may leave it as is. The result is going
-to be assigned to the value in the left-hand-side if different from
-this value.
-
-This allows for the same method to be used as overloaded C<+=> and
-C<+>. Note that this is I<allowed>, but not recommended, since by the
-semantic of L<"Fallback"> Perl will call the method for C<+> anyway,
-if C<+=> is not overloaded.
-
-=back
-
-B<Warning.> Due to the presence of assignment versions of operations,
-routines which may be called in assignment context may create
-self-referential structures. Currently Perl will not free self-referential
-structures until cycles are C<explicitly> broken. You may get problems
-when traversing your structures too.
-
-Say,
-
- use overload '+' => sub { bless [ \$_[0], \$_[1] ] };
-
-is asking for trouble, since for code C<$obj += $foo> the subroutine
-is called as C<$obj = add($obj, $foo, undef)>, or C<$obj = [\$obj,
-\$foo]>. If using such a subroutine is an important optimization, one
-can overload C<+=> explicitly by a non-"optimized" version, or switch
-to non-optimized version if C<not defined $_[2]> (see
-L<Calling Conventions for Binary Operations>).
-
-Even if no I<explicit> assignment-variants of operators are present in
-the script, they may be generated by the optimizer. Say, C<",$obj,"> or
-C<',' . $obj . ','> may be both optimized to
-
- my $tmp = ',' . $obj; $tmp .= ',';
-
-=head2 Overloadable Operations
-
-The following symbols can be specified in C<use overload> directive:
-
-=over 5
-
-=item * I<Arithmetic operations>
-
- "+", "+=", "-", "-=", "*", "*=", "/", "/=", "%", "%=",
- "**", "**=", "<<", "<<=", ">>", ">>=", "x", "x=", ".", ".=",
-
-For these operations a substituted non-assignment variant can be called if
-the assignment variant is not available. Methods for operations C<+>,
-C<->, C<+=>, and C<-=> can be called to automatically generate
-increment and decrement methods. The operation C<-> can be used to
-autogenerate missing methods for unary minus or C<abs>.
-
-See L<"MAGIC AUTOGENERATION">, L<"Calling Conventions for Mutators"> and
-L<"Calling Conventions for Binary Operations">) for details of these
-substitutions.
-
-=item * I<Comparison operations>
-
- "<", "<=", ">", ">=", "==", "!=", "<=>",
- "lt", "le", "gt", "ge", "eq", "ne", "cmp",
-
-If the corresponding "spaceship" variant is available, it can be
-used to substitute for the missing operation. During C<sort>ing
-arrays, C<cmp> is used to compare values subject to C<use overload>.
-
-=item * I<Bit operations>
-
- "&", "&=", "^", "^=", "|", "|=", "neg", "!", "~",
-
-C<neg> stands for unary minus. If the method for C<neg> is not
-specified, it can be autogenerated using the method for
-subtraction. If the method for C<!> is not specified, it can be
-autogenerated using the methods for C<bool>, or C<"">, or C<0+>.
-
-The same remarks in L<"Arithmetic operations"> about
-assignment-variants and autogeneration apply for
-bit operations C<"&">, C<"^">, and C<"|"> as well.
-
-=item * I<Increment and decrement>
-
- "++", "--",
-
-If undefined, addition and subtraction methods can be
-used instead. These operations are called both in prefix and
-postfix form.
-
-=item * I<Transcendental functions>
-
- "atan2", "cos", "sin", "exp", "abs", "log", "sqrt", "int"
-
-If C<abs> is unavailable, it can be autogenerated using methods
-for "E<lt>" or "E<lt>=E<gt>" combined with either unary minus or subtraction.
-
-Note that traditionally the Perl function L<int> rounds to 0, thus for
-floating-point-like types one should follow the same semantic. If
-C<int> is unavailable, it can be autogenerated using the overloading of
-C<0+>.
-
-=item * I<Boolean, string and numeric conversion>
-
- 'bool', '""', '0+',
-
-If one or two of these operations are not overloaded, the remaining ones can
-be used instead. C<bool> is used in the flow control operators
-(like C<while>) and for the ternary C<?:> operation. These functions can
-return any arbitrary Perl value. If the corresponding operation for this value
-is overloaded too, that operation will be called again with this value.
-
-As a special case if the overload returns the object itself then it will
-be used directly. An overloaded conversion returning the object is
-probably a bug, because you're likely to get something that looks like
-C<YourPackage=HASH(0x8172b34)>.
-
-=item * I<Iteration>
-
- "<>"
-
-If not overloaded, the argument will be converted to a filehandle or
-glob (which may require a stringification). The same overloading
-happens both for the I<read-filehandle> syntax C<E<lt>$varE<gt>> and
-I<globbing> syntax C<E<lt>${var}E<gt>>.
-
-B<BUGS> Even in list context, the iterator is currently called only
-once and with scalar context.
-
-=item * I<Matching>
-
-The key C<"~~"> allows you to override the smart matching logic used by
-the C<~~> operator and the switch construct (C<given>/C<when>). See
-L<perlsyn/switch> and L<feature>.
-
-Unusually, overloading of the smart match operator does not automatically
-take precedence over normal smart match behaviour. In particular, in the
-following code:
-
- package Foo;
- use overload '~~' => 'match';
-
- my $obj = Foo->new();
- $obj ~~ [ 1,2,3 ];
-
-the smart match does I<not> invoke the method call like this:
-
- $obj->match([1,2,3],0);
-
-rather, the smart match distributive rule takes precedence, so $obj is
-smart matched against each array element in turn until a match is found,
-so you may see between one and three of these calls instead:
-
- $obj->match(1,0);
- $obj->match(2,0);
- $obj->match(3,0);
-
-Consult the match table in L<perlsyn/"Smart matching in detail"> for
-details of when overloading is invoked.
-
-=item * I<Dereferencing>
-
- '${}', '@{}', '%{}', '&{}', '*{}'.
-
-If not overloaded, the argument will be dereferenced I<as is>, thus
-should be of correct type. These functions should return a reference
-of correct type, or another object with overloaded dereferencing.
-
-As a special case if the overload returns the object itself then it
-will be used directly (provided it is the correct type).
-
-The dereference operators must be specified explicitly they will not be passed to
-"nomethod".
-
-=item * I<Special>
-
- "nomethod", "fallback", "=".
-
-see L<SPECIAL SYMBOLS FOR C<use overload>>.
-
-=back
-
-See L<"Fallback"> for an explanation of when a missing method can be
-autogenerated.
-
-A computer-readable form of the above table is available in the hash
-%overload::ops, with values being space-separated lists of names:
-
- with_assign => '+ - * / % ** << >> x .',
- assign => '+= -= *= /= %= **= <<= >>= x= .=',
- num_comparison => '< <= > >= == !=',
- '3way_comparison'=> '<=> cmp',
- str_comparison => 'lt le gt ge eq ne',
- binary => '& &= | |= ^ ^=',
- unary => 'neg ! ~',
- mutators => '++ --',
- func => 'atan2 cos sin exp abs log sqrt',
- conversion => 'bool "" 0+',
- iterators => '<>',
- dereferencing => '${} @{} %{} &{} *{}',
- matching => '~~',
- special => 'nomethod fallback ='
-
-=head2 Inheritance and overloading
-
-Inheritance interacts with overloading in two ways.
-
-=over
-
-=item Strings as values of C<use overload> directive
-
-If C<value> in
-
- use overload key => value;
-
-is a string, it is interpreted as a method name.
-
-=item Overloading of an operation is inherited by derived classes
-
-Any class derived from an overloaded class is also overloaded. The
-set of overloaded methods is the union of overloaded methods of all
-the ancestors. If some method is overloaded in several ancestor, then
-which description will be used is decided by the usual inheritance
-rules:
-
-If C<A> inherits from C<B> and C<C> (in this order), C<B> overloads
-C<+> with C<\&D::plus_sub>, and C<C> overloads C<+> by C<"plus_meth">,
-then the subroutine C<D::plus_sub> will be called to implement
-operation C<+> for an object in package C<A>.
-
-=back
-
-Note that since the value of the C<fallback> key is not a subroutine,
-its inheritance is not governed by the above rules. In the current
-implementation, the value of C<fallback> in the first overloaded
-ancestor is used, but this is accidental and subject to change.
-
-=head1 SPECIAL SYMBOLS FOR C<use overload>
-
-Three keys are recognized by Perl that are not covered by the above
-description.
-
-=head2 Last Resort
-
-C<"nomethod"> should be followed by a reference to a function of four
-parameters. If defined, it is called when the overloading mechanism
-cannot find a method for some operation. The first three arguments of
-this function coincide with the arguments for the corresponding method if
-it were found, the fourth argument is the symbol
-corresponding to the missing method. If several methods are tried,
-the last one is used. Say, C<1-$a> can be equivalent to
-
- &nomethodMethod($a,1,1,"-")
-
-if the pair C<"nomethod" =E<gt> "nomethodMethod"> was specified in the
-C<use overload> directive.
-
-The C<"nomethod"> mechanism is I<not> used for the dereference operators
-( ${} @{} %{} &{} *{} ).
-
-
-If some operation cannot be resolved, and there is no function
-assigned to C<"nomethod">, then an exception will be raised via die()--
-unless C<"fallback"> was specified as a key in C<use overload> directive.
-
-
-=head2 Fallback
-
-The key C<"fallback"> governs what to do if a method for a particular
-operation is not found. Three different cases are possible depending on
-the value of C<"fallback">:
-
-=over 16
-
-=item * C<undef>
-
-Perl tries to use a
-substituted method (see L<MAGIC AUTOGENERATION>). If this fails, it
-then tries to calls C<"nomethod"> value; if missing, an exception
-will be raised.
-
-=item * TRUE
-
-The same as for the C<undef> value, but no exception is raised. Instead,
-it silently reverts to what it would have done were there no C<use overload>
-present.
-
-=item * defined, but FALSE
-
-No autogeneration is tried. Perl tries to call
-C<"nomethod"> value, and if this is missing, raises an exception.
-
-=back
-
-B<Note.> C<"fallback"> inheritance via @ISA is not carved in stone
-yet, see L<"Inheritance and overloading">.
-
-=head2 Copy Constructor
-
-The value for C<"="> is a reference to a function with three
-arguments, i.e., it looks like the other values in C<use
-overload>. However, it does not overload the Perl assignment
-operator. This would go against Camel hair.
-
-This operation is called in the situations when a mutator is applied
-to a reference that shares its object with some other reference, such
-as
-
- $a=$b;
- ++$a;
-
-To make this change $a and not change $b, a copy of C<$$a> is made,
-and $a is assigned a reference to this new object. This operation is
-done during execution of the C<++$a>, and not during the assignment,
-(so before the increment C<$$a> coincides with C<$$b>). This is only
-done if C<++> is expressed via a method for C<'++'> or C<'+='> (or
-C<nomethod>). Note that if this operation is expressed via C<'+'>
-a nonmutator, i.e., as in
-
- $a=$b;
- $a=$a+1;
-
-then C<$a> does not reference a new copy of C<$$a>, since $$a does not
-appear as lvalue when the above code is executed.
-
-If the copy constructor is required during the execution of some mutator,
-but a method for C<'='> was not specified, it can be autogenerated as a
-string copy if the object is a plain scalar or a simple assignment if it
-is not.
-
-=over 5
-
-=item B<Example>
-
-The actually executed code for
-
- $a=$b;
- Something else which does not modify $a or $b....
- ++$a;
-
-may be
-
- $a=$b;
- Something else which does not modify $a or $b....
- $a = $a->clone(undef,"");
- $a->incr(undef,"");
-
-if $b was mathemagical, and C<'++'> was overloaded with C<\&incr>,
-C<'='> was overloaded with C<\&clone>.
-
-=back
-
-Same behaviour is triggered by C<$b = $a++>, which is consider a synonym for
-C<$b = $a; ++$a>.
-
-=head1 MAGIC AUTOGENERATION
-
-If a method for an operation is not found, and the value for C<"fallback"> is
-TRUE or undefined, Perl tries to autogenerate a substitute method for
-the missing operation based on the defined operations. Autogenerated method
-substitutions are possible for the following operations:
-
-=over 16
-
-=item I<Assignment forms of arithmetic operations>
-
-C<$a+=$b> can use the method for C<"+"> if the method for C<"+=">
-is not defined.
-
-=item I<Conversion operations>
-
-String, numeric, and boolean conversion are calculated in terms of one
-another if not all of them are defined.
-
-=item I<Increment and decrement>
-
-The C<++$a> operation can be expressed in terms of C<$a+=1> or C<$a+1>,
-and C<$a--> in terms of C<$a-=1> and C<$a-1>.
-
-=item C<abs($a)>
-
-can be expressed in terms of C<$aE<lt>0> and C<-$a> (or C<0-$a>).
-
-=item I<Unary minus>
-
-can be expressed in terms of subtraction.
-
-=item I<Negation>
-
-C<!> and C<not> can be expressed in terms of boolean conversion, or
-string or numerical conversion.
-
-=item I<Concatenation>
-
-can be expressed in terms of string conversion.
-
-=item I<Comparison operations>
-
-can be expressed in terms of its "spaceship" counterpart: either
-C<E<lt>=E<gt>> or C<cmp>:
-
- <, >, <=, >=, ==, != in terms of <=>
- lt, gt, le, ge, eq, ne in terms of cmp
-
-=item I<Iterator>
-
- <> in terms of builtin operations
-
-=item I<Dereferencing>
-
- ${} @{} %{} &{} *{} in terms of builtin operations
-
-=item I<Copy operator>
-
-can be expressed in terms of an assignment to the dereferenced value, if this
-value is a scalar and not a reference, or simply a reference assignment
-otherwise.
-
-=back
-
-=head1 Minimal set of overloaded operations
-
-Since some operations can be automatically generated from others, there is
-a minimal set of operations that need to be overloaded in order to have
-the complete set of overloaded operations at one's disposal.
-Of course, the autogenerated operations may not do exactly what the user
-expects. See L<MAGIC AUTOGENERATION> above. The minimal set is:
-
- + - * / % ** << >> x
- <=> cmp
- & | ^ ~
- atan2 cos sin exp log sqrt int
-
-Additionally, you need to define at least one of string, boolean or
-numeric conversions because any one can be used to emulate the others.
-The string conversion can also be used to emulate concatenation.
-
-=head1 Losing overloading
-
-The restriction for the comparison operation is that even if, for example,
-`C<cmp>' should return a blessed reference, the autogenerated `C<lt>'
-function will produce only a standard logical value based on the
-numerical value of the result of `C<cmp>'. In particular, a working
-numeric conversion is needed in this case (possibly expressed in terms of
-other conversions).
-
-Similarly, C<.=> and C<x=> operators lose their mathemagical properties
-if the string conversion substitution is applied.
-
-When you chop() a mathemagical object it is promoted to a string and its
-mathemagical properties are lost. The same can happen with other
-operations as well.
-
-=head1 Run-time Overloading
-
-Since all C<use> directives are executed at compile-time, the only way to
-change overloading during run-time is to
-
- eval 'use overload "+" => \&addmethod';
-
-You can also use
-
- eval 'no overload "+", "--", "<="';
-
-though the use of these constructs during run-time is questionable.
-
-=head1 Public functions
-
-Package C<overload.pm> provides the following public functions:
-
-=over 5
-
-=item overload::StrVal(arg)
-
-Gives string value of C<arg> as in absence of stringify overloading. If you
-are using this to get the address of a reference (useful for checking if two
-references point to the same thing) then you may be better off using
-C<Scalar::Util::refaddr()>, which is faster.
-
-=item overload::Overloaded(arg)
-
-Returns true if C<arg> is subject to overloading of some operations.
-
-=item overload::Method(obj,op)
-
-Returns C<undef> or a reference to the method that implements C<op>.
-
-=back
-
-=head1 Overloading constants
-
-For some applications, the Perl parser mangles constants too much.
-It is possible to hook into this process via C<overload::constant()>
-and C<overload::remove_constant()> functions.
-
-These functions take a hash as an argument. The recognized keys of this hash
-are:
-
-=over 8
-
-=item integer
-
-to overload integer constants,
-
-=item float
-
-to overload floating point constants,
-
-=item binary
-
-to overload octal and hexadecimal constants,
-
-=item q
-
-to overload C<q>-quoted strings, constant pieces of C<qq>- and C<qx>-quoted
-strings and here-documents,
-
-=item qr
-
-to overload constant pieces of regular expressions.
-
-=back
-
-The corresponding values are references to functions which take three arguments:
-the first one is the I<initial> string form of the constant, the second one
-is how Perl interprets this constant, the third one is how the constant is used.
-Note that the initial string form does not
-contain string delimiters, and has backslashes in backslash-delimiter
-combinations stripped (thus the value of delimiter is not relevant for
-processing of this string). The return value of this function is how this
-constant is going to be interpreted by Perl. The third argument is undefined
-unless for overloaded C<q>- and C<qr>- constants, it is C<q> in single-quote
-context (comes from strings, regular expressions, and single-quote HERE
-documents), it is C<tr> for arguments of C<tr>/C<y> operators,
-it is C<s> for right-hand side of C<s>-operator, and it is C<qq> otherwise.
-
-Since an expression C<"ab$cd,,"> is just a shortcut for C<'ab' . $cd . ',,'>,
-it is expected that overloaded constant strings are equipped with reasonable
-overloaded catenation operator, otherwise absurd results will result.
-Similarly, negative numbers are considered as negations of positive constants.
-
-Note that it is probably meaningless to call the functions overload::constant()
-and overload::remove_constant() from anywhere but import() and unimport() methods.
-From these methods they may be called as
-
- sub import {
- shift;
- return unless @_;
- die "unknown import: @_" unless @_ == 1 and $_[0] eq ':constant';
- overload::constant integer => sub {Math::BigInt->new(shift)};
- }
-
-=head1 IMPLEMENTATION
-
-What follows is subject to change RSN.
-
-The table of methods for all operations is cached in magic for the
-symbol table hash for the package. The cache is invalidated during
-processing of C<use overload>, C<no overload>, new function
-definitions, and changes in @ISA. However, this invalidation remains
-unprocessed until the next C<bless>ing into the package. Hence if you
-want to change overloading structure dynamically, you'll need an
-additional (fake) C<bless>ing to update the table.
-
-(Every SVish thing has a magic queue, and magic is an entry in that
-queue. This is how a single variable may participate in multiple
-forms of magic simultaneously. For instance, environment variables
-regularly have two forms at once: their %ENV magic and their taint
-magic. However, the magic which implements overloading is applied to
-the stashes, which are rarely used directly, thus should not slow down
-Perl.)
-
-If an object belongs to a package using overload, it carries a special
-flag. Thus the only speed penalty during arithmetic operations without
-overloading is the checking of this flag.
-
-In fact, if C<use overload> is not present, there is almost no overhead
-for overloadable operations, so most programs should not suffer
-measurable performance penalties. A considerable effort was made to
-minimize the overhead when overload is used in some package, but the
-arguments in question do not belong to packages using overload. When
-in doubt, test your speed with C<use overload> and without it. So far
-there have been no reports of substantial speed degradation if Perl is
-compiled with optimization turned on.
-
-There is no size penalty for data if overload is not used. The only
-size penalty if overload is used in some package is that I<all> the
-packages acquire a magic during the next C<bless>ing into the
-package. This magic is three-words-long for packages without
-overloading, and carries the cache table if the package is overloaded.
-
-Copying (C<$a=$b>) is shallow; however, a one-level-deep copying is
-carried out before any operation that can imply an assignment to the
-object $a (or $b) refers to, like C<$a++>. You can override this
-behavior by defining your own copy constructor (see L<"Copy Constructor">).
-
-It is expected that arguments to methods that are not explicitly supposed
-to be changed are constant (but this is not enforced).
-
-=head1 Metaphor clash
-
-One may wonder why the semantic of overloaded C<=> is so counter intuitive.
-If it I<looks> counter intuitive to you, you are subject to a metaphor
-clash.
-
-Here is a Perl object metaphor:
-
-I< object is a reference to blessed data>
-
-and an arithmetic metaphor:
-
-I< object is a thing by itself>.
-
-The I<main> problem of overloading C<=> is the fact that these metaphors
-imply different actions on the assignment C<$a = $b> if $a and $b are
-objects. Perl-think implies that $a becomes a reference to whatever
-$b was referencing. Arithmetic-think implies that the value of "object"
-$a is changed to become the value of the object $b, preserving the fact
-that $a and $b are separate entities.
-
-The difference is not relevant in the absence of mutators. After
-a Perl-way assignment an operation which mutates the data referenced by $a
-would change the data referenced by $b too. Effectively, after
-C<$a = $b> values of $a and $b become I<indistinguishable>.
-
-On the other hand, anyone who has used algebraic notation knows the
-expressive power of the arithmetic metaphor. Overloading works hard
-to enable this metaphor while preserving the Perlian way as far as
-possible. Since it is not possible to freely mix two contradicting
-metaphors, overloading allows the arithmetic way to write things I<as
-far as all the mutators are called via overloaded access only>. The
-way it is done is described in L<Copy Constructor>.
-
-If some mutator methods are directly applied to the overloaded values,
-one may need to I<explicitly unlink> other values which references the
-same value:
-
- $a = Data->new(23);
- ...
- $b = $a; # $b is "linked" to $a
- ...
- $a = $a->clone; # Unlink $b from $a
- $a->increment_by(4);
-
-Note that overloaded access makes this transparent:
-
- $a = Data->new(23);
- $b = $a; # $b is "linked" to $a
- $a += 4; # would unlink $b automagically
-
-However, it would not make
-
- $a = Data->new(23);
- $a = 4; # Now $a is a plain 4, not 'Data'
-
-preserve "objectness" of $a. But Perl I<has> a way to make assignments
-to an object do whatever you want. It is just not the overload, but
-tie()ing interface (see L<perlfunc/tie>). Adding a FETCH() method
-which returns the object itself, and STORE() method which changes the
-value of the object, one can reproduce the arithmetic metaphor in its
-completeness, at least for variables which were tie()d from the start.
-
-(Note that a workaround for a bug may be needed, see L<"BUGS">.)
-
-=head1 Cookbook
-
-Please add examples to what follows!
-
-=head2 Two-face scalars
-
-Put this in F<two_face.pm> in your Perl library directory:
-
- package two_face; # Scalars with separate string and
- # numeric values.
- sub new { my $p = shift; bless [@_], $p }
- use overload '""' => \&str, '0+' => \&num, fallback => 1;
- sub num {shift->[1]}
- sub str {shift->[0]}
-
-Use it as follows:
-
- require two_face;
- my $seven = two_face->new("vii", 7);
- printf "seven=$seven, seven=%d, eight=%d\n", $seven, $seven+1;
- print "seven contains `i'\n" if $seven =~ /i/;
-
-(The second line creates a scalar which has both a string value, and a
-numeric value.) This prints:
-
- seven=vii, seven=7, eight=8
- seven contains `i'
-
-=head2 Two-face references
-
-Suppose you want to create an object which is accessible as both an
-array reference and a hash reference.
-
- package two_refs;
- use overload '%{}' => \&gethash, '@{}' => sub { $ {shift()} };
- sub new {
- my $p = shift;
- bless \ [@_], $p;
- }
- sub gethash {
- my %h;
- my $self = shift;
- tie %h, ref $self, $self;
- \%h;
- }
-
- sub TIEHASH { my $p = shift; bless \ shift, $p }
- my %fields;
- my $i = 0;
- $fields{$_} = $i++ foreach qw{zero one two three};
- sub STORE {
- my $self = ${shift()};
- my $key = $fields{shift()};
- defined $key or die "Out of band access";
- $$self->[$key] = shift;
- }
- sub FETCH {
- my $self = ${shift()};
- my $key = $fields{shift()};
- defined $key or die "Out of band access";
- $$self->[$key];
- }
-
-Now one can access an object using both the array and hash syntax:
-
- my $bar = two_refs->new(3,4,5,6);
- $bar->[2] = 11;
- $bar->{two} == 11 or die 'bad hash fetch';
-
-Note several important features of this example. First of all, the
-I<actual> type of $bar is a scalar reference, and we do not overload
-the scalar dereference. Thus we can get the I<actual> non-overloaded
-contents of $bar by just using C<$$bar> (what we do in functions which
-overload dereference). Similarly, the object returned by the
-TIEHASH() method is a scalar reference.
-
-Second, we create a new tied hash each time the hash syntax is used.
-This allows us not to worry about a possibility of a reference loop,
-which would lead to a memory leak.
-
-Both these problems can be cured. Say, if we want to overload hash
-dereference on a reference to an object which is I<implemented> as a
-hash itself, the only problem one has to circumvent is how to access
-this I<actual> hash (as opposed to the I<virtual> hash exhibited by the
-overloaded dereference operator). Here is one possible fetching routine:
-
- sub access_hash {
- my ($self, $key) = (shift, shift);
- my $class = ref $self;
- bless $self, 'overload::dummy'; # Disable overloading of %{}
- my $out = $self->{$key};
- bless $self, $class; # Restore overloading
- $out;
- }
-
-To remove creation of the tied hash on each access, one may an extra
-level of indirection which allows a non-circular structure of references:
-
- package two_refs1;
- use overload '%{}' => sub { ${shift()}->[1] },
- '@{}' => sub { ${shift()}->[0] };
- sub new {
- my $p = shift;
- my $a = [@_];
- my %h;
- tie %h, $p, $a;
- bless \ [$a, \%h], $p;
- }
- sub gethash {
- my %h;
- my $self = shift;
- tie %h, ref $self, $self;
- \%h;
- }
-
- sub TIEHASH { my $p = shift; bless \ shift, $p }
- my %fields;
- my $i = 0;
- $fields{$_} = $i++ foreach qw{zero one two three};
- sub STORE {
- my $a = ${shift()};
- my $key = $fields{shift()};
- defined $key or die "Out of band access";
- $a->[$key] = shift;
- }
- sub FETCH {
- my $a = ${shift()};
- my $key = $fields{shift()};
- defined $key or die "Out of band access";
- $a->[$key];
- }
-
-Now if $baz is overloaded like this, then C<$baz> is a reference to a
-reference to the intermediate array, which keeps a reference to an
-actual array, and the access hash. The tie()ing object for the access
-hash is a reference to a reference to the actual array, so
-
-=over
-
-=item *
-
-There are no loops of references.
-
-=item *
-
-Both "objects" which are blessed into the class C<two_refs1> are
-references to a reference to an array, thus references to a I<scalar>.
-Thus the accessor expression C<$$foo-E<gt>[$ind]> involves no
-overloaded operations.
-
-=back
-
-=head2 Symbolic calculator
-
-Put this in F<symbolic.pm> in your Perl library directory:
-
- package symbolic; # Primitive symbolic calculator
- use overload nomethod => \&wrap;
-
- sub new { shift; bless ['n', @_] }
- sub wrap {
- my ($obj, $other, $inv, $meth) = @_;
- ($obj, $other) = ($other, $obj) if $inv;
- bless [$meth, $obj, $other];
- }
-
-This module is very unusual as overloaded modules go: it does not
-provide any usual overloaded operators, instead it provides the L<Last
-Resort> operator C<nomethod>. In this example the corresponding
-subroutine returns an object which encapsulates operations done over
-the objects: C<< symbolic->new(3) >> contains C<['n', 3]>, C<< 2 +
-symbolic->new(3) >> contains C<['+', 2, ['n', 3]]>.
-
-Here is an example of the script which "calculates" the side of
-circumscribed octagon using the above package:
-
- require symbolic;
- my $iter = 1; # 2**($iter+2) = 8
- my $side = symbolic->new(1);
- my $cnt = $iter;
-
- while ($cnt--) {
- $side = (sqrt(1 + $side**2) - 1)/$side;
- }
- print "OK\n";
-
-The value of $side is
-
- ['/', ['-', ['sqrt', ['+', 1, ['**', ['n', 1], 2]],
- undef], 1], ['n', 1]]
-
-Note that while we obtained this value using a nice little script,
-there is no simple way to I<use> this value. In fact this value may
-be inspected in debugger (see L<perldebug>), but only if
-C<bareStringify> B<O>ption is set, and not via C<p> command.
-
-If one attempts to print this value, then the overloaded operator
-C<""> will be called, which will call C<nomethod> operator. The
-result of this operator will be stringified again, but this result is
-again of type C<symbolic>, which will lead to an infinite loop.
-
-Add a pretty-printer method to the module F<symbolic.pm>:
-
- sub pretty {
- my ($meth, $a, $b) = @{+shift};
- $a = 'u' unless defined $a;
- $b = 'u' unless defined $b;
- $a = $a->pretty if ref $a;
- $b = $b->pretty if ref $b;
- "[$meth $a $b]";
- }
-
-Now one can finish the script by
-
- print "side = ", $side->pretty, "\n";
-
-The method C<pretty> is doing object-to-string conversion, so it
-is natural to overload the operator C<""> using this method. However,
-inside such a method it is not necessary to pretty-print the
-I<components> $a and $b of an object. In the above subroutine
-C<"[$meth $a $b]"> is a catenation of some strings and components $a
-and $b. If these components use overloading, the catenation operator
-will look for an overloaded operator C<.>; if not present, it will
-look for an overloaded operator C<"">. Thus it is enough to use
-
- use overload nomethod => \&wrap, '""' => \&str;
- sub str {
- my ($meth, $a, $b) = @{+shift};
- $a = 'u' unless defined $a;
- $b = 'u' unless defined $b;
- "[$meth $a $b]";
- }
-
-Now one can change the last line of the script to
-
- print "side = $side\n";
-
-which outputs
-
- side = [/ [- [sqrt [+ 1 [** [n 1 u] 2]] u] 1] [n 1 u]]
-
-and one can inspect the value in debugger using all the possible
-methods.
-
-Something is still amiss: consider the loop variable $cnt of the
-script. It was a number, not an object. We cannot make this value of
-type C<symbolic>, since then the loop will not terminate.
-
-Indeed, to terminate the cycle, the $cnt should become false.
-However, the operator C<bool> for checking falsity is overloaded (this
-time via overloaded C<"">), and returns a long string, thus any object
-of type C<symbolic> is true. To overcome this, we need a way to
-compare an object to 0. In fact, it is easier to write a numeric
-conversion routine.
-
-Here is the text of F<symbolic.pm> with such a routine added (and
-slightly modified str()):
-
- package symbolic; # Primitive symbolic calculator
- use overload
- nomethod => \&wrap, '""' => \&str, '0+' => \&num;
-
- sub new { shift; bless ['n', @_] }
- sub wrap {
- my ($obj, $other, $inv, $meth) = @_;
- ($obj, $other) = ($other, $obj) if $inv;
- bless [$meth, $obj, $other];
- }
- sub str {
- my ($meth, $a, $b) = @{+shift};
- $a = 'u' unless defined $a;
- if (defined $b) {
- "[$meth $a $b]";
- } else {
- "[$meth $a]";
- }
- }
- my %subr = ( n => sub {$_[0]},
- sqrt => sub {sqrt $_[0]},
- '-' => sub {shift() - shift()},
- '+' => sub {shift() + shift()},
- '/' => sub {shift() / shift()},
- '*' => sub {shift() * shift()},
- '**' => sub {shift() ** shift()},
- );
- sub num {
- my ($meth, $a, $b) = @{+shift};
- my $subr = $subr{$meth}
- or die "Do not know how to ($meth) in symbolic";
- $a = $a->num if ref $a eq __PACKAGE__;
- $b = $b->num if ref $b eq __PACKAGE__;
- $subr->($a,$b);
- }
-
-All the work of numeric conversion is done in %subr and num(). Of
-course, %subr is not complete, it contains only operators used in the
-example below. Here is the extra-credit question: why do we need an
-explicit recursion in num()? (Answer is at the end of this section.)
-
-Use this module like this:
-
- require symbolic;
- my $iter = symbolic->new(2); # 16-gon
- my $side = symbolic->new(1);
- my $cnt = $iter;
-
- while ($cnt) {
- $cnt = $cnt - 1; # Mutator `--' not implemented
- $side = (sqrt(1 + $side**2) - 1)/$side;
- }
- printf "%s=%f\n", $side, $side;
- printf "pi=%f\n", $side*(2**($iter+2));
-
-It prints (without so many line breaks)
-
- [/ [- [sqrt [+ 1 [** [/ [- [sqrt [+ 1 [** [n 1] 2]]] 1]
- [n 1]] 2]]] 1]
- [/ [- [sqrt [+ 1 [** [n 1] 2]]] 1] [n 1]]]=0.198912
- pi=3.182598
-
-The above module is very primitive. It does not implement
-mutator methods (C<++>, C<-=> and so on), does not do deep copying
-(not required without mutators!), and implements only those arithmetic
-operations which are used in the example.
-
-To implement most arithmetic operations is easy; one should just use
-the tables of operations, and change the code which fills %subr to
-
- my %subr = ( 'n' => sub {$_[0]} );
- foreach my $op (split " ", $overload::ops{with_assign}) {
- $subr{$op} = $subr{"$op="} = eval "sub {shift() $op shift()}";
- }
- my @bins = qw(binary 3way_comparison num_comparison str_comparison);
- foreach my $op (split " ", "@overload::ops{ @bins }") {
- $subr{$op} = eval "sub {shift() $op shift()}";
- }
- foreach my $op (split " ", "@overload::ops{qw(unary func)}") {
- print "defining `$op'\n";
- $subr{$op} = eval "sub {$op shift()}";
- }
-
-Due to L<Calling Conventions for Mutators>, we do not need anything
-special to make C<+=> and friends work, except filling C<+=> entry of
-%subr, and defining a copy constructor (needed since Perl has no
-way to know that the implementation of C<'+='> does not mutate
-the argument, compare L<Copy Constructor>).
-
-To implement a copy constructor, add C<< '=' => \&cpy >> to C<use overload>
-line, and code (this code assumes that mutators change things one level
-deep only, so recursive copying is not needed):
-
- sub cpy {
- my $self = shift;
- bless [@$self], ref $self;
- }
-
-To make C<++> and C<--> work, we need to implement actual mutators,
-either directly, or in C<nomethod>. We continue to do things inside
-C<nomethod>, thus add
-
- if ($meth eq '++' or $meth eq '--') {
- @$obj = ($meth, (bless [@$obj]), 1); # Avoid circular reference
- return $obj;
- }
-
-after the first line of wrap(). This is not a most effective
-implementation, one may consider
-
- sub inc { $_[0] = bless ['++', shift, 1]; }
-
-instead.
-
-As a final remark, note that one can fill %subr by
-
- my %subr = ( 'n' => sub {$_[0]} );
- foreach my $op (split " ", $overload::ops{with_assign}) {
- $subr{$op} = $subr{"$op="} = eval "sub {shift() $op shift()}";
- }
- my @bins = qw(binary 3way_comparison num_comparison str_comparison);
- foreach my $op (split " ", "@overload::ops{ @bins }") {
- $subr{$op} = eval "sub {shift() $op shift()}";
- }
- foreach my $op (split " ", "@overload::ops{qw(unary func)}") {
- $subr{$op} = eval "sub {$op shift()}";
- }
- $subr{'++'} = $subr{'+'};
- $subr{'--'} = $subr{'-'};
-
-This finishes implementation of a primitive symbolic calculator in
-50 lines of Perl code. Since the numeric values of subexpressions
-are not cached, the calculator is very slow.
-
-Here is the answer for the exercise: In the case of str(), we need no
-explicit recursion since the overloaded C<.>-operator will fall back
-to an existing overloaded operator C<"">. Overloaded arithmetic
-operators I<do not> fall back to numeric conversion if C<fallback> is
-not explicitly requested. Thus without an explicit recursion num()
-would convert C<['+', $a, $b]> to C<$a + $b>, which would just rebuild
-the argument of num().
-
-If you wonder why defaults for conversion are different for str() and
-num(), note how easy it was to write the symbolic calculator. This
-simplicity is due to an appropriate choice of defaults. One extra
-note: due to the explicit recursion num() is more fragile than sym():
-we need to explicitly check for the type of $a and $b. If components
-$a and $b happen to be of some related type, this may lead to problems.
-
-=head2 I<Really> symbolic calculator
-
-One may wonder why we call the above calculator symbolic. The reason
-is that the actual calculation of the value of expression is postponed
-until the value is I<used>.
-
-To see it in action, add a method
-
- sub STORE {
- my $obj = shift;
- $#$obj = 1;
- @$obj->[0,1] = ('=', shift);
- }
-
-to the package C<symbolic>. After this change one can do
-
- my $a = symbolic->new(3);
- my $b = symbolic->new(4);
- my $c = sqrt($a**2 + $b**2);
-
-and the numeric value of $c becomes 5. However, after calling
-
- $a->STORE(12); $b->STORE(5);
-
-the numeric value of $c becomes 13. There is no doubt now that the module
-symbolic provides a I<symbolic> calculator indeed.
-
-To hide the rough edges under the hood, provide a tie()d interface to the
-package C<symbolic> (compare with L<Metaphor clash>). Add methods
-
- sub TIESCALAR { my $pack = shift; $pack->new(@_) }
- sub FETCH { shift }
- sub nop { } # Around a bug
-
-(the bug is described in L<"BUGS">). One can use this new interface as
-
- tie $a, 'symbolic', 3;
- tie $b, 'symbolic', 4;
- $a->nop; $b->nop; # Around a bug
-
- my $c = sqrt($a**2 + $b**2);
-
-Now numeric value of $c is 5. After C<$a = 12; $b = 5> the numeric value
-of $c becomes 13. To insulate the user of the module add a method
-
- sub vars { my $p = shift; tie($_, $p), $_->nop foreach @_; }
-
-Now
-
- my ($a, $b);
- symbolic->vars($a, $b);
- my $c = sqrt($a**2 + $b**2);
-
- $a = 3; $b = 4;
- printf "c5 %s=%f\n", $c, $c;
-
- $a = 12; $b = 5;
- printf "c13 %s=%f\n", $c, $c;
-
-shows that the numeric value of $c follows changes to the values of $a
-and $b.
-
-=head1 AUTHOR
-
-Ilya Zakharevich E<lt>F<ilya@math.mps.ohio-state.edu>E<gt>.
-
-=head1 SEE ALSO
-
-The L<overloading> pragma can be used to enable or disable overloaded
-operations within a lexical scope.
-
-=head1 DIAGNOSTICS
-
-When Perl is run with the B<-Do> switch or its equivalent, overloading
-induces diagnostic messages.
-
-Using the C<m> command of Perl debugger (see L<perldebug>) one can
-deduce which operations are overloaded (and which ancestor triggers
-this overloading). Say, if C<eq> is overloaded, then the method C<(eq>
-is shown by debugger. The method C<()> corresponds to the C<fallback>
-key (in fact a presence of this method shows that this package has
-overloading enabled, and it is what is used by the C<Overloaded>
-function of module C<overload>).
-
-The module might issue the following warnings:
-
-=over 4
-
-=item Odd number of arguments for overload::constant
-
-(W) The call to overload::constant contained an odd number of arguments.
-The arguments should come in pairs.
-
-=item `%s' is not an overloadable type
-
-(W) You tried to overload a constant type the overload package is unaware of.
-
-=item `%s' is not a code reference
-
-(W) The second (fourth, sixth, ...) argument of overload::constant needs
-to be a code reference. Either an anonymous subroutine, or a reference
-to a subroutine.
-
-=back
-
-=head1 BUGS
-
-Because it is used for overloading, the per-package hash %OVERLOAD now
-has a special meaning in Perl. The symbol table is filled with names
-looking like line-noise.
-
-For the purpose of inheritance every overloaded package behaves as if
-C<fallback> is present (possibly undefined). This may create
-interesting effects if some package is not overloaded, but inherits
-from two overloaded packages.
-
-Relation between overloading and tie()ing is broken. Overloading is
-triggered or not basing on the I<previous> class of tie()d value.
-
-This happens because the presence of overloading is checked too early,
-before any tie()d access is attempted. If the FETCH()ed class of the
-tie()d value does not change, a simple workaround is to access the value
-immediately after tie()ing, so that after this call the I<previous> class
-coincides with the current one.
-
-B<Needed:> a way to fix this without a speed penalty.
-
-Barewords are not covered by overloaded string constants.
-
-This document is confusing. There are grammos and misleading language
-used in places. It would seem a total rewrite is needed.
-
-=cut
-