Dynamic Packages in Perl

barvin has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I'd like to create a hierarchy of perl modules based on a directed acyclical graph (a branching tree). Each node would become a class which would automagically have methods allowing it to access to any of the nodes below it on the tree (it's transitive closure).

I'm pretty sure I know how to inject methods into a package via it's symbol table, but can anyone point me in the right direction for further reading about how to dynamically create packages in perl.

Comment on Dynamic Packages in Perl

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Re: Dynamic Packages in Perl by chromatic (Archbishop) on Nov 14, 2008 at 17:58 UTC
I'd use Class::MOP::Class.	[reply]
Re: Dynamic Packages in Perl by Joost (Canon) on Nov 14, 2008 at 18:11 UTC
I'd also recommend Class::MOP for this kind of thing, but basically, the only thing you need to do to create a package (and all its parent packages) is to put some entry in its symbol table. `my $package_name = "Bla::Dee::Bla"; no strict 'refs'; ${"$package_name::PARENT"} = "Bla::Dee"; # create $Bla::Dee::Bla::PARE +NT;` [download] "What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Dynamic Packages in Perl by Narveson (Chaplain) on Nov 14, 2008 at 23:38 UTC
Whoops! This assigns the string `'Bla::Dee'` to the scalar `${""}` in package `main`. To do what you intend, say `${$package_name.'::PARENT'} = "Bla::Dee";`	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Dynamic Packages in Perl by Joost (Canon) on Nov 15, 2008 at 09:37 UTC
You're right. Actually, I prefer to do `${"${package_name}::PARENT"}` [download] "What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Dynamic Packages in Perl by zentara (Cardinal) on Nov 14, 2008 at 18:04 UTC
I'm no expert on packages, but Using SUPER in dynamically generated subs might be interesting for you. It seems to somewhat address your concept. I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth Remember How Lucky You Are	[reply]