at some point in the past week i was scanning cpan and noticed the Data::Serializer distribution: http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/mod_perl/cpan-search?request=searchsearch?dist=Data-Serializer
that serialization interface is a lot more complete than the one i proposed. after talking with the author (neil), i decided to junk my Serializer proposal and work with him. the result is Tie::Transient, which you can find at http://www.maz.org/perl/Tie-Transient-0.05.tar.gz you create an object whose underlying data structure is tied to a subclass of Tie::Transient. then you create a Data::Serializer object and call its serialize method, passing your object. the serializer calls Tie::Transient::hide_transients before it does the actual serialization. and your frozen object does not contain its transients. there's no need for a clone method since the original state of the object can be restored by calling Tie::Transient::show_transients. furthermore, there's no namespace pollution, so external code can directly examine the object's data structure as necessary. what are your thoughts on this module and its collaboration with Data::Serializer?
