> If you change $dbh->{RaiseError}=1 to $dbh->raise_error(1), what is it
> you are proposing for DBI->connect( ..., {RaiseError=>1, PrintError=0}
> )? Handle attributes are a series of name/value pairs.
Er, this is not exactly virgin territory here. Virtually every common
post-wild-west-early-days (sorry DBI, CGI.pm ;) Perl 5 module uses
some kind of simple "named attribute" interface. Look at DateTime for
just one recent example. This is also the direction of Perl 6
interfaces.
> What more natural way is there in Perl to deal with name/value pairs than a
> hash?
Boldly speaking for the Entire Perl Community (ha!) interfaces like this:
$x->foo(..., {...})
are generally considered icky. Who here doesn't cringe when they
see those curly braces in a newly downloaded CPAN module's POD? It's an
annoying, problem-prone way to tack "extensibility" onto an API that has
otherwise painted itself into a corner with too many positional
params (*cough*bind_columns(undef, ...))
> And since hashes can be tied to provide privacy and encapsulation,
> what rule does it break to use them other than the rule that objects
> have round things at the end of their arrows rather than squiggly things?
There are better ways to implement encapsulation and extensibility
than tied hashes. They're called "objects" and "methods" :) If ties were
sufficient and "just as good", then Perl 5 (and 6) would have no need for
proper objects and methods.
-John
