Re^2: difference b/w API and a class

Classes aren't a very Perl concept.

At least not in Perl 5. In Perl 6 classes are a very fundamental part of the language.

? In my mind, the Perl API is XS

In my mind, the Perl API is language and its built-in functions and operators as described in the various perldoc documents. One could also call the command line syntax the "Perl API".

But of course XS is also a Perl API, just one that I don't use.

Perl 6 - links to (nearly) everything that is Perl 6.

Comment on Re^2: difference b/w API and a class

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Re^3: difference b/w API and a class by DrHyde (Prior) on Oct 21, 2009 at 10:04 UTC
Classes aren't a Perl concept, they're common to all kinds of languages. And the question wasn't about the perl API, it was a perl API. I suspect that what the OP wants to hear is that an API is the interface that a vendor documents and provides so that you can write programs to interact with their software. It could be all kinds of different interfaces, such as SOAP or REST, or a bunch of scripts that you run, or a set of libraries that you can use. Of those, probably the most common is providing a set of libraries with a well-documented interface. If the vendor specifically provides a perl API, then those libraries will almost certainly be in the form of perl modules that you can `use` in your code, and they might provide an object-oriented (ie, using classes) interface. But the perl interface might instead be procedural, especially if the perl modules provided are just a thin wrapper around C libraries.	[reply] [d/l]

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Re^3: difference b/w API and a class
by DrHyde (Prior) on Oct 21, 2009 at 10:04 UTC

Classes aren't a Perl concept, they're common to all kinds of languages.

And the question wasn't about the perl API, it was a perl API.

I suspect that what the OP wants to hear is that an API is the interface that a vendor documents and provides so that you can write programs to interact with their software. It could be all kinds of different interfaces, such as SOAP or REST, or a bunch of scripts that you run, or a set of libraries that you can use.

Of those, probably the most common is providing a set of libraries with a well-documented interface. If the vendor specifically provides a perl API, then those libraries will almost certainly be in the form of perl modules that you can use in your code, and they might provide an object-oriented (ie, using classes) interface. But the perl interface might instead be procedural, especially if the perl modules provided are just a thin wrapper around C libraries.

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