Question

I’m making a Perl module and I am still getting to grips with how Perl deals with objects.
This is the new sub that I wrote to create an object and I have no problem updating elements:

sub new {
    my $class = shift;
    my ($self) = {
        name => undef
    };
    bless($self, $class);
    return $self;
}
sub get_name {
    my $self = shift;
    $self->{name} = 'Eve';
    return $self->{name};
}

I can use the object fine when I call the module and access it from another file, but I want to use the data in the object at other areas in the module code.

So I have no problem doing this:

my $new_object = new ProgramTest; # ProgramTest being the module/package
my $name = get_name();

But I want to use the $self elements in a ‘module-internal’ method which is never accessed by an outside script. So I want to have something like this:

sub get_variables {
    return (name); # I don't know how to get the name here 
    # (I plan to have other variables, too)
}

I am probably missing something obvious (I’m sure I’ll kick myself when I see the solution), so any help appreciated!
I want this so that the rest of the module can use the variables (without changing) as there are conditions that rely on their values.

Answer 1

There’s no such thing as internal/private methods in perl objects. Common practise is to start any methods which should not be used publicly with an underscore, but this is not enforced in any way. Also have a look at moose – it takes a lot of the hassle out of OO perl.

With regards to your question the below shows how one module method can call another module method, with both having access to the object data. Again I woulds really recommend you use Moose!

sub publicSub{
    my ( $self ) = @_;

    return $self->_privateSub();
}

sub _privateSub{
    my ( $self ) = @_;

    return $self->{name};
}