
Class::Constructor
------------------
This is Class::Constructor, a package that simplifies the creation
of object constructors in your own modules.

It is meant to work alongside Class::Accessor.  Use Class::Accessor to
automate the creation of your object accessor methods, and
Class::Constructor to automate the creation of your object constructor
methods.

Instead of writing:

    sub new {
        my $proto = shift;
        my $class = ref $proto || $proto;
        my $self = {};
        bless $self, $class;

        my %args = @_;
        foreach my $attr ('first_attribute', 'second_attribute') {
            $self->$attr($args{$attr});
        }

        $self->_init();

        return $self;
    }

You can just write:

    CLASS->mk_constructor(
        Auto_Init      => [ 'first_attribute', 'second_attribute' ],
    );

(There are other features as well for creating more sophisticated
constructors.  See the docs for details.)

The syntax is loosely based on Class::Accessor, by Michael G. Schwern.

Prerequisites
-------------
* Perl 5.005 or higher


Installing
----------
On Unix systems install Class::Constructor as you would any other
perl module:

    $ perl Makefile.PL
    $ make
    $ make test
    $ make install

To read the docs, type:

    perldoc Class::Constructor

On systems without make (e.g. Windows), first copy Constructor.pm
into your local library directory (e.g. C:\PERL\lib\site\Class).

To read the docs, run them through the pod2html program:

    perl -S pod2html.pl Constructor.pm > Constructor.html

And then open the html files in your web browser.

Homepage
--------

    http://www.occamstoothbrush.com/perl/

Author
------
Michael Graham <mag-perl@occamstoothbrush.com>

Copyright (C) 2001 Michael Graham.  All rights reserved.
This program is free software.  You can use, modify
and distribute it under the same terms as Perl itself.

