One slightly tangential note: using a module like Class::Accessor automates the accessor/mutator method creation for you, and makes it simple to add new ones as well:

package My::Object;

use strict;
use base qw( Class::Accessor );
my @FIELDS = qw( dsn username password table );
My::Object->mk_accessors( @FIELDS );

...
[download]

To add a new accessor/mutator, we just need to stick a new field into @FIELDS.

Chris
M-x auto-bs-mode