Ken Farmer wrote: > I have tried this question in a couple of other places but the answers are > far above my current level of understanding of oop - which is the level of > very interested newbie - real newbie. So here goes again. > > I make an empty (of data) perl object1 with an included method which can be > called to put data into the hash inside this object. I can now call that > method and insert data. Simple OOP - it works. > > Now I make another empty object2 and inherit object1. I can call the > inherited method from object1 through object2 and it also works, but not like > I assumed it would. > > I am trying to understand whether... > > I have two identical and totally separate objects, each independent of the > other with the second being a copy of the first plus whatever might be added > later - but nothing in this case. > > Or I have two objects and the second one "sees" (or calls, or views) the > first. It really doesn't matter except... > > The reason I am asking, is that the second object inherits the methods of > object1, but doesn't inherit the data currently inside object1. If I call the > add method in object1, ($object1->add_data) it adds data to object1. Since > object1 is the parent that should be correct. > > But that new data doesn't appear to object2. In fact, object2 never sees > data in object1 unless that data was put there by the new() constructor when > the object was made. And calling the add method ($object2->add_data) doesn't > add data to object1 - it adds it to object2. > > I think I see why by tracing through the process. When object2 inherits > object1, it runs the initalize new() function of object1 and makes a new and > empty object. I can't find any example in my books about how to inherit an > object without having the constructor in the inherited object run. Or if it > can be. > > Have I confused everybody? I am. > > So, is data inheritable? Or only methods? I doubt that is correct since it > would take away a lot of reason for inheriting in the first place. > > OOP is a lot of fun and I can see where it would be great in a large > project, but has a very steep start in the learning curve. > > CptKrf
See the other posters responses as well, but I think it might help if you read through some docs on OOP programming, check out: perldoc perlboot perldoc perltoot perldoc perltooc And issuing, perldoc perl Will give you the full list of what is available. Additionally Learning Perl Objects, Refs, and Mods is an excellent book, as is the somewhat dated Object Oriented Perl. Good luck, http://danconia.org -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <http://learn.perl.org/> <http://learn.perl.org/first-response>
