FP::Abstract::Interface - protocol for an interface
An interface is just a named base type that other types implement. Its purpose is:
1. to be used as a base type to declare a particular behaviour of the new type, and to define what that behaviour entails (currently just a set of method names that are expected to be implemented)
2. to have the defined behaviour (the set of methods) checked at load time of any module that implements the interface, and issue a warning if anything is missing.
3. to allow code to check at runtime whether objects conform to an interface (early dynamic error detection)
Point (2) is implemented by `FP::Struct`: when defining a class via `FP::Struct`, each given parent class is checked for the implementation of a method `FP_Interface__method_names` via `can()`. This method, if present, is supposed to ignore arguments and return a list of the names of the set of methods that is required to implement the interface. This method is called once at load time of each module that defines such a class.
Not only declare and check the method names, but also the arity (how many arguments it takes), argument names, and, once FP::Types is done, optionally types.
At that point, offer more methods for introspection (IDE support).
Extend to generic functions that support the same "methods" on unblessed references or non-reference values.
Perhaps (given some reason) rename FP::Abstract::* to FP::Protocol::*.
FP::Interfaces
This is alpha software! Read the status section in the package README or on the website.
To install FunctionalPerl, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm FunctionalPerl
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install FunctionalPerl
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.