--- name: "Object::Tiny" section: "3pm" platform: "linux" package: "libobject-tiny-perl" version: "1.09-1" release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/Object::Tiny" --- # Object::Tiny(3pm) Class building as simple as it gets ## NAME Object::Tiny - Class building as simple as it gets ## SYNOPSIS ``` # Define a class package Foo; use Object::Tiny qw{ bar baz }; 1; # Use the class my $object = Foo->new( bar => 1 ); print "bar is " . $object->bar . "\n"; ``` ## DESCRIPTION There's a whole bunch of class builders out there. In fact, creating a class builder seems to be something of a rite of passage (this is my fifth, at least). Unfortunately, most of the time I want a class builder I'm in a hurry and sketching out lots of fairly simple data classes with fairly simple structure, mostly just read-only accessors, and that's about it. Often this is for code that won't end up on CPAN, so adding a small dependency doesn't matter much. I just want to be able to define these classes FAST. By which I mean LESS typing than writing them by hand, not more. And I don't need all those weird complex features that bloat out the code and take over the whole way I build modules. And so, I present yet another member of the Tiny family of modules, Object::Tiny. The goal here is really just to save me some typing. There's others that could do the job just fine, but I want something that does as little as possible and creates code the same way I'd have written it by hand anyway. To use Object::Tiny, just call it with a list of accessors to be created. ``` use Object::Tiny 'foo', 'bar'; ``` For a large list, I lay it out like this... ``` use Object::Tiny qw{ item_font_face item_font_color item_font_size item_text_content item_display_time seperator_font_face seperator_font_color seperator_font_size seperator_text_content }; ``` This will create a bunch of simple accessors, and set the inheritance to be the child of Object::Tiny. Object::Tiny is empty other than a basic `"new"` constructor which does the following ``` sub new { my $class = shift; return bless { @_ }, $class; } ``` In fact, if doing the following in your class gets annoying... ``` sub new { my $class = shift; my $self = $class->SUPER::new( @_ ); # Extra checking and such ... return $self; } ``` ... then feel free to ditch the SUPER call and just create the hash yourself! It's not going to make a lick of different and there's nothing magic going on under the covers you might break. And that's really all there is to it. Let a million simple data classes bloom. Features? We don't need no stinking features. ### Handling Subclasses If the class you are using Object::Tiny for is already a subclass of another Object::Tiny class (or a subclass of anything else) it doesn't really work to make the class use multiple inheritance. So in this case, Object::Tiny will create the accessors you specify, but WON'T make it a subclass of Object::Tiny. ### Why bother when Class::Accessor::\* already does the same thing? As a class builder, Object::Tiny inevitably is compared to Class::Accessor and related modules. They seem so similar, so why would I reimplement it? The answer is that for experienced developers that don't need or want hand-holding, Object::Tiny is just outright better, faster or cheaper on every single metric than Class::Accessor::Fast, which is the most comparable member of the Class::Accessor::\* family. **Object::Tiny is 93% smaller than Class::Accessor::Fast** Class::Accessor::Fast requires about 125k of memory to load. Object::Tiny requires about 8k of memory to load. **Object::Tiny is 75% more terse to use than Class::Accessor::Fast** Object::Tiny is used with the least possible number of keystrokes (short of making the actual name Object::Tiny smaller). And it requires no ugly constructor methods. I mean really, what sort of a method name is 'mk\_ro\_accessors'. That sort of thing went out of style in the early nineties. Using Class::Accessor::Fast... ``` package Foo::Bar; use base 'Class::Accessor::Fast'; Foo::Bar->mk_ro_accessors(qw{ foo bar baz }); ``` Using Object::Tiny... ``` package Foo::Bar; use Object::Tiny qw{ foo bar baz }; ``` Further, Object::Tiny lets you pass your params in directly, without having to wrap them in an additional HASH reference that will just be copied ANYWAY inside the constructor. Using Class::Accessor::Fast... ``` my $object = Foo::Bar->new( { foo => 1, bar => 2, baz => 3, } ); ``` Using Object::Tiny... ``` my $object = Foo::Bar->new( foo => 1, bar => 2, baz => 3, ); ``` **Object::Tiny constructors are 110% faster than Class::Accessor::Fast** Object::Tiny accessors are identical in speed to Class::Accessor::Fast accessors, but Object::Tiny constructors are TWICE as fast as Class::Accessor::Fast constructors, DESPITE C:A:Fast forcing you to pass by reference (which is typically done for speed reasons). ``` Benchmarking constructor plus accessors... Rate accessor tiny accessor 100949/s -- -45% tiny 182382/s 81% -- Benchmarking constructor alone... Rate accessor tiny accessor 156470/s -- -54% tiny 342231/s 119% -- Benchmarking accessors alone... Rate tiny accessor tiny 81.0/s -- -0% accessor 81.0/s 0% -- ``` **Object::Tiny pollutes your API 95% less than Class::Accessor::Fast** Object::Tiny adds two methods to your class, `"new"` and `"import"`. The `"new"` constructor is so trivial you can just ignore it and use your own if you wish, and the `"import"` will shortcut and do nothing (it is used to implement the `"use Object::Tiny qw{ foo bar baz };"` syntax itself). So if you make your own import, you can ignore the Object::Tiny one. Class::Accessor::Fast isn't quite as light, adding all sorts of useless extra public methods (why on earth would you want to add method accessors at run-time?). Here's what the classes used in the benchmark end up like. ``` DB<1> use Class::Inspector DB<2> x Class::Inspector->methods('Foo_Bar_Tiny'); 0 ARRAY(0xfda780) 0 'bar' 1 'baz' 2 'foo' 3 'import' 4 'new' DB<3> x Class::Inspector->methods('Foo_Bar_Accessor'); 0 ARRAY(0xfdb3c8) 0 '_bar_accessor' 1 '_baz_accessor' 2 '_carp' 3 '_croak' 4 '_foo_accessor' 5 '_mk_accessors' 6 'accessor_name_for' 7 'bar' 8 'baz' 9 'best_practice_accessor_name_for' 10 'best_practice_mutator_name_for' 11 'follow_best_practice' 12 'foo' 13 'get' 14 'make_accessor' 15 'make_ro_accessor' 16 'make_wo_accessor' 17 'mk_accessors' 18 'mk_ro_accessors' 19 'mk_wo_accessors' 20 'mutator_name_for' 21 'new' 22 'set' ``` As you can see, Object::Tiny adds 2 methods to your class, Class::Accessor adds 16 methods, plus one extra one for every accessor. **Object::Tiny doesn't have any of the caveats of Class::Accessor::Fast** When you call **use Object::Tiny qw{ foo bar baz }** it isn't treated as some sort of specification for the class, it's just a list of accessors you want made for you. So if you want to customize `"foo"` you don't need to get into contortions with "pure" base classes or calling alternate internal methods. Just make your own `"foo"` method and remove `"foo"` from the list passed to the `"use"` call. **Object::Tiny is more back-compatible than Class::Accessor::Fast** Class::Accessor::Fast has a minimum Perl dependency of 5.005002. Object::Tiny has a minimum Perl dependency of 5.004. **Object::Tiny has no module dependencies whatsoever** Object::Tiny does not load ANYTHING at all outside of its own single .pm file. So Object::Tiny will never get confused in odd situations due to old or weird versions of other modules (Class::Accessor::Fast has a dependency on base.pm, which has some caveats of its own). ## SUPPORT Bugs should be reported via the CPAN bug tracker at \ For other issues, contact the author. ## AUTHOR Adam Kennedy \ ## SEE ALSO Config::Tiny ## COPYRIGHT Copyright 2007 - 2011 Adam Kennedy. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.