Just because you cannot do something doesn't mean it's a bad idea :-) Did the fact that perl4 didn't have lexical variables or OO mean they were a bad ideas?

There are good reasons for proper encapsulation. The only reason "privacy" code is contorted in perl5 is because perl5 doesn't provide the necessary functionality. Writing OO code in perl4 was "contorted" too ;-).

You can do private methods and object attributes in various evil hacky ways in perl5. Sometimes this is necessary. Fortunately perl is an evolving language and, from what I understand, you will be able to do it nicely in perl6.

In reply to Re^3: characterstics of private in perl by adrianh
in thread characterstics of private in perl by Anonymous Monk

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