OI would guess that people who want private and read-only attributes are just used to "strict" languages.

I would agree more if you were talking about private vs. protected properties -- i.e. access controls from other classes.

(N.B. I avoid the term "attributes" since we also have attributes in Perl. I think it's unfortunate that some inside-out class generators talk about object "attributes" and then use attributes for methods as well.)

I think that generating accessors (and/or mutators) for every bit of state associated with an object is a mistake because it merges implementation and interface. That is the violation -- or really, repudiation -- of the principle of encapsulation. It's not about hiding data, it's about decoupling.

If you are the only one using your class, then it may not matter -- but if you share your code with others and if you want to promise some degree of API stability, then I think that making accessors for everything is a mistake. On the other hand, if you're comfortable declaring the difference between accessors you mean to be public and accessors you mean to be private in documentation and letting violators do so at their own risk, then I can see why this isn't a big deal for you.

-xdg

Code written by xdg and posted on PerlMonks is public domain. It is provided as is with no warranties, express or implied, of any kind. Posted code may not have been tested. Use of posted code is at your own risk.

In reply to Re^4: RFR: Inside-out classes - a Class::InsideOut primer by xdg
in thread RFR: Inside-out classes - a Class::InsideOut primer by radiantmatrix

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.