in reply to Re^3: Five Features Perl 5 Needs Now
in thread Five Features Perl 5 Needs Now

It's "just syntax" in that it over little more than a different name from the keyword 'package' - the only difference is that it comes with a trailing scope. So you can do: 
class FOO {
   BLOCK
}

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instead of 
{
  package FOO;
  BLOCK
}

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It won't even save you on keystrokes; 'class' can clash with an existing subroutine, so you'd need a 'use feature' to actually use it.

And "it's just syntax" means that there's no addition semantics in the BLOCK. Rafael said it would be more worthwhile if the BLOCK had additional properties; methods for instance (with compile time lookup, and not callable as subs).

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Re^5: Five Features Perl 5 Needs Now
by chromatic (Archbishop) on Dec 19, 2008 at 18:29 UTC
    It's "just syntax" in that it over little more than a different name from the keyword 'package' - the only difference is that it comes with a trailing scope.

    It does more than that. The block executes at BEGIN time, and you can optionally inherit from multiple parents with class Baz is Bar is Foo { ... }.

    That's not a complete revision of Perl 5's object system, but it is a start. Besides that, it's exactly the syntax of Perl 6 -- and I believe it's more descriptive and easier to understand than messing with @ISA or base or parent.

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