It is the official Perl way, as envisioned by Larry Wall. (I should have said "members" rather than "variables". Hiding variables is done by scoping.) Any other technique used to hide private methods and members constitutes an attempt to write C++ (or some other language) in Perl.


Do you have a link to that? Also, while I agree that Mr. Wall has done some amazing things, people can be different. Using other techniques would not constitute the attempt to write another language in Perl, it would be an attempt to write OO, which is precisely what Perl is trying to emulate with classes.

It really does just come down to a matter of preference, and the leading underscore really isn't the problem, it's the incomplete OO support. Although please note I have not delved in depth into Perl's OO support beyond simple class constructs, so please do correct me if I am wrong) People have issues in Java with underscores all the time.

In reply to Re^7: I hate the leading underscores. by RazorbladeBidet
in thread I hate the leading underscores. by Anonymous Monk

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