Let's say you know you will be making a hash of 120,000 hashes, each with (up to) 2 values. Instead of making 120,000 tiny hashes, with the overhead of each hash, you can go ahead and make 120,000 blessed scalar-refs and one huge array of 360,000 scalars. Each object will be a
blessed scalar. Something like (untested!):
package CoolObject;
my @objects;
my $next_index = 0;
sub new
{
my $class = shift;
my $x = $next_index;
my $self = bless \$x, $class;
$next_index += 3;
return $self;
}
sub name
{
my $self = shift;
$object[$$self] = shift if @_;
return $object[$$self];
}
sub attr1
{
my $self = shift;
$object[$$self + 1] = shift if @_;
return $object[$$self + 1];
}
sub attr2
{
my $self = shift;
$object[$$self + 2] = shift if @_;
return $object[$$self + 2];
}
1;
Those having read the Panther book will recognize this. Some obvious improvements would include:
- Adding the kind of garbage collection he had to re-use entries. (This would be in DESTROY.)
- Initialization of attributes. (This would be in new)
- Making it into more of a base class that will take attributes. (This would involve adding some sort of attribute registration.)
- Adding attribute inheritance. (This would involve attribute registration that walks the ISA-tree.)
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We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.
Don't go borrowing trouble. For programmers, this means Worry only about what you need to implement.