Module Development

CloneArmyCommander has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I feel that I have been using perl long enough that I would really like to start conrtibuting back (I am a strong believer in the GNU approach to programming ;), so my question is not to a specific piece of code, but development in general.

I was reading through Programming Perl (again ;), and I was reading through the section that speaks on developing modules. I figured that many of our CPAN contributors lurk around the monastery, so I figure I will ask advice here. I am mostly looking for general infomation, but to kindof formalize my question into something that would be a good question. . . .

QUESTION:

Are there any good resources that will take me through the steps of developing a good (and useful) module?
Are there any words of advice from any module develpers here that might help me along?

I assume that I am not the only one here who has this question on their mind, so I thought it would be of some use to post this for others who are in the same situation :). Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to give me.

Comment on Module Development

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Module Development by holli (Abbot) on Feb 18, 2005 at 22:58 UTC
A must-read is How to make a CPAN Module Distribution. holli, /regexed monk/	[reply]
Re: Module Development by itub (Priest) on Feb 18, 2005 at 22:54 UTC
You can look at José's Guide for creating Perl modules, which was posted here just two days ago.	[reply]
Re: Module Development by hsmyers (Canon) on Feb 19, 2005 at 05:33 UTC
Leave us not forget Writing Perl Modules for CPAN by Sam Tregar, APress ISBN 159059018X. Wish I'd had it before I wrote my first module. As for advice, best I can give is 'get busy!' Now is as good a time to begin as any. Good Luck! --hsm "Never try to teach a pig to sing...it wastes your time and it annoys the pig."	[reply]
Re^2: Module Development by TStanley (Canon) on Feb 19, 2005 at 14:38 UTC
I must second this recommendation. samtregar's book is very well written and a very useful book. TStanley -------- The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing -- Edmund Burke	[reply]
Re: Module Development by sh1tn (Priest) on Feb 18, 2005 at 23:35 UTC
One of the best resources is the book Learning Perl Objects, References & Modules. Another good book is Object Oriented Perl.	[reply]
Re: Module Development by cbrandtbuffalo (Deacon) on Feb 19, 2005 at 13:27 UTC
Another way to get your feet wet might be to look into the Phalanx project. It's a project to develop better testing suites for core Perl modules. The benefit to you, as you are thinking about writing a module, is that you can work with the maintainer of a top 100 Perl module and pick their brain a bit. You can see how they have done things, and get feedback on how they might do things differently now. Plus you'll get some testing experience and contribute to a core Perl module. Although it's slightly off-topic, I can't believe petdance didn't mention it :)	[reply]
Re^2: Module Development by perlfan (Parson) on Feb 19, 2005 at 19:09 UTC
a point of very high kwalitee ;)	[reply]
Re: Module Development by perlfan (Parson) on Feb 19, 2005 at 02:11 UTC
Damian Conway's "Object Oriented Perl" is a must read. On the way to learning oop Perl, you also learn how to write a good module. Additionally, "h2xs" is good for creating the standard module directory structure - even if you are not using XS. Also, don't forget about info presented in Simple Module Tutorial.	[reply]
Re^2: Module Development by petdance (Parson) on Feb 19, 2005 at 06:37 UTC
h2xs is terrible for creating the standard module directory structure, because that's all it does, and it doesn't create tests in the current best format. That's why I created Module::Starter. You should use h2xs ONLY if you're using XS. xoxo, Andy	[reply]
Re^3: Module Development by TheDamian (Vicar) on Feb 19, 2005 at 07:59 UTC
Indeed. `h2xs` was certainly best practice back when it was the only tool available. But if I were writing "Object Oriented Perl" today, I'd definitely be recommending `Module::Starter` instead. And, in fact, in the book I am writing today ("Perl Best Practices") I do recommend `Module::Starter`. `;-)` Damian	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^4: Module Development by sth (Priest) on Feb 21, 2005 at 19:38 UTC
Re^5: Module Development by TheDamian (Vicar) on Feb 21, 2005 at 21:36 UTC
Re: Module Development by toma (Vicar) on Feb 19, 2005 at 07:40 UTC
The old standby for creating a new pure perl module is to start with: `h2xs -OXn MyModule cd MyModule perl Makefile.PL make make test` [download] and then add your code to MyModule.pm. Here is an XS tutorial that includes C code. I also tried module-starter: `module-starter --module=MyModule --author="Me" --email="me@mine.com" cd MyModule perl Makefile.PL make test` [download] This behaved well after I installed the latest Test::Pod::Coverage. It should work perfectly the first time! - toma	[reply] [d/l] [select]