That's an interesting take on the problem. Using a dispatch table is the archetypal "best practice" for implementing externally derived, command driven dispatching, so I guess the question then becomes:

How would you implement a dispatch table within a class so that the dispatched code can be overridden?

We already have one. It's called the Perl dispatcher.

    # Sanitize $cmd here if you want. Maybe you go against a list of a
+cceptable
    # commands that's accessible via $self->add_command( 'cmd1' );
    my $method = $self->can( $cmd );
    $self->$method( @args ) if $method;
[download]

Is there something I'm missing? This is very similar to what SQL::Parser does and it's pretty successful.

---

My criteria for good software:

1. Does it work?
2. Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?

But isn't that breaking one of the cardinal rules?

---

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

"Too many [] have been sedated by an oppressive environment of political correctness and risk aversion."