I like this idea nicely, as the weak ref solutions previousy suggested only work under 5.6 and I'd like to keep a 5.005 solution usable.

Extending this, I would suggest that I can now put in my DESTROY function for the Temps, not only a delete $TEMPS{ $self->{ID} };, but also something that goes back to the factory class that that ID is gone, though this step isn't really necessary.

I believe that the only limitation here is that I couldn't have more than (whatever the maximum possible positive value is for an integer for perl & OS) iterators at the same time, but I very much that would be a problem.

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Dr. Michael K. Neylon - mneylon-pm@masemware.com || "You've left the lens cap of your mind on again, Pinky" - The Brain
"I can see my house from here!"
It's not what you know, but knowing how to find it if you don't know that's important