The Perl 5 Modules List (long)
Tim Bunce
I am posting it here now, before Perl 5 is fully released, in order to
encourage anyone who is developing a Perl 5 module to submit an entry
to be added to the list.
The guideines section of this document may be split off into some part
of the Perl 5 documentation. I present them both together here for your
information and comments.
Regards,
Tim Bunce.
--- cut here ---
The Perl 5 Modules List
-----------------------
This is $Revision: 1.10 $, last updated on $Date: 1994/10/12 20:04:03 $.
Maintained by Tim Bunce <Tim....@ig.co.uk>
Introduction
------------
This document is a semi-formal list of Perl 5 Modules. The Perl 4
concept of packages has been extended in Perl 5 and a new standardised
form of reusable software component has been defined: the Module.
Perl 5 Modules typically conform to certain guidelines which make them
easier to use, reuse, integrate and extend.
This list is (or will be) posted to comp.lang.perl on a semi-regular
basis. It has two key aims:
1. For developers: To change duplication of effort into cooperation.
2. For users: To quickly locate existing software which can be reused.
This list includes the Perl 5 standard modules, other completed modules,
work-in-progress modules and would-be-nice-to-have ideas for modules.
It also includes guidelines for those wishing to create new modules
including how to name them.
Perl 5 Module Terminology (a larry-terminology-mini-tutorial)
-------------------------
Perl 5 implements a class using a package, but the presence of a
package doesn't imply the presence of a class. A package is just a
namespace. A class is a package that provides subroutines that can be
used as methods. A method is just a subroutine that expects, as its
first argument, either the name of a package (for "static" methods),
or a reference to something (for "virtual" methods).
A module is a file that (by convention) provides a class of the same
name (sans the .pm), plus an import method in that class that can be
called to fetch exported symbols. This module may implement some of
its methods by loading dynamic C or C++ objects, but that should be
totally transparent to the user of the module. Likewise, the module
might set up an AUTOLOAD function to slurp in subroutine definitions on
demand, but this is also transparent. Only the .pm file is required to
exist.
Simple Guidelines for Module Creation
-------------------------------------
1. Do similar modules already exist in some form?
If so, please try to reuse the exisiting modules either in whole or
by inheriting useful features into a new class. If this is not
practical try to get together with the module authors to work on
extending or enhancing the functionality of the exisiting modules.
A perfect example is the plethora of packages in perl4 for dealing
with command line options.
If you are writing a module to expand an already exisiting set of
modules, please cooridinate with the author of the package. It
helps if you follow the same naming scheme and module interaction
scheme as the original author.
2. Try to design the new module to be easy to extend.
Use blessed references. Inherit methods from other modules. Avoid
$r->Class::func() where using @ISA=qw(... Class ...) and $r->func()
would work (see Doc/bot.pod for more details). Pass arrays to
functions as references so more parameters can be added later (it's
also faster). Split large functions into smaller more flexible ones.
Use autosplit so little used or newly added functions won't be a
burden to programs which don't use them.
3. Select what to export.
Do not export something by default without a good reason. Exports
pollute the namespace of the module user. Use @EXPORT_OK in
preference to @EXPORT.
If you're using blessed references you do not need to export the
methods. Anything not exported is still accessible from outside the
module using the ModuleName::item_name syntax. Avoid common names
for exported items to reduce the risk of name clashes.
4. Select a name for the module.
This name should be as descriptive, accurate and complete as possible.
Avoid any risk of ambiguity. Always try to use two or more words.
Please used nested module names to group or categorise a module.
Having 57 modules all called Sort will not make life easy for anyone
(though having 23 called QuickSort is only marginally better :-).
Imagine someone trying to install your module alongside many others.
If in any doubt ask for suggestions in comp.lang.perl.
If you are developing a suite of related modules/classes it's good
practice to use nested classes with a common prefix as this will
avoid namespace clashes. For example: Xyz::Control, Xyz::View,
Xyz::Model etc.
If adding a new module to a set, follow the original author's
standards for naming modules and the interface to methods in
those modules.
To be portable module names should be limited to 11 characters (if
it might be used on DOS then try to ensure it's unique in the first
8 characters).
5. Give the module a version/issue/release number.
Add a function or method to retrieve the number. Use the number in
announcements and archive file names when releasing the module
(ModuleName-1.2.tar.Z). See ExtUtils::MakeMaker.pm for details.
6. Take care when changing a released module.
Always strive to remain compatible with previous released versions.
Otherwise try to add a mechanism to revert to the old behaviour.
Simple Guidelines for Converting Perl 4 Library Scripts into Modules
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1. There is no requirement to convert anything.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Perl 4 library scripts should
continue to work with no problems. You may need to make some minor
changes (like escaping non-array @'s in double quoted strings) but
there is no need to convert a .pl file into a Module for just that.
2. Consider the implications.
All the perl applications which make use of the script will need to
be changed (slightly) if the script is converted into a module. Is
it worth it unless you plan to make other changes at the same time?
3. Make the most of the opportunity.
If you are going to convert the script to a module you can use the
opportunity to redesign the interface. The 'Guidelines for Module
Creation' above include many of the issues you should consider.
4. The pl2pm utility will get you started.
This utility will read *.pl files (given as parameters) and write
corresponding *.pm files. The pl2pm utilities does the following:
- Adds the standard Module prologue lines
- Converts package specifiers from ' to ::
- Converts die(...) to croak(...)
- Several other minor changes
Being a mechanical process pl2pm is not bullet proof. The converted
code will need careful checking, especially any package statements.
Don't delete the original .pl file till the new .pm one works!
Simple Guidelines for Reusing Application Code
----------------------------------------------
1. Complete applications rarely belong in the Perl Module Library.
2. Many applications contain some perl code which could be reused.
3. Break-out the reusable code into one or more separate module files.
4. Take the opportunity to reconsider and redesign the interfaces.
5. In some cases the 'application' can then be reduced to a small
fragment of code built ontop of the resuable modules. In these cases
the application could invoked as:
perl -e 'use Module; method(@ARGV)' ...
See the AutoSplit module for an example.
=======================================================================
Editorial Information
This document is Copyright (c) 1994 by Tim Bunce. Permission is hereby
granted to give away free copies. You may distribute, transfer, or
copy this document. This copyright notice and the disclaimer below
must be maintained in any copy made.
Disclaimer: The content of this document is simply a collection of
information gathered from many sources with little or no checking.
There are NO warranties with regard to this information or its use.
Help save the world! Please submit new entries and updates to me so I
can keep this list up-to-date. I would prefer changes to be submitted
as context diff's (or just plain diff if your diff does not have a
context diff option) by email to Tim....@ig.co.uk.
=======================================================================
Module Listing Format
---------------------
The remainder of this document is divided up into sections. Each
section deals with a particular topic and lists all known modules
related to that topic. Modules are only listed in one section so
check all sections that might related to your particular needs.
Each Module listing is very short. The main goal is to simply publish
the existence of the modules, or ideas for modules, and enough contact
information for you to find out more. Each listing includes some
characters which convey basic status information.
For example:
Name DSLI Description Info
------------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
Fcntl Sdcf Defines fcntl() constants (see File::Lock) JHI
Where the 'DSLI' characters have the following meanings:
D - Development Stage (no implied timescale!):
i - Idea, listed to gain consensus or as a placeholder
c - under construction but pre-alpha
a/b - Alpha/Beta testing
R - Released
M - Mature (no rigourous definition)
S - Standard, supplied with Perl 5
S - Support Level:
u - Usenet newsgroup comp.lang.perl
d - Developer
m - Mailing-list
n - None known, try comp.lang.perl
L - Language Used:
p - Perl-only, no compiler needed, should be platform independent
c - C and perl, a compiler will be needed
o - perl and another language other than C
I - Interface Style
f - plain Functions, no references used
r - some use of unblessed References or ties
O - Object oriented using blessed references and/or inheritance
Where letters are missing they can usually be inferred from the
others. For example 'i' implies 'id', 'S' implies 'Su'.
The Info column gives a contact reference 'tag'. Lookup this tag in the
"Information / Contact Reference Details" section at the botton of the
document. If no contact is given always try asking in comp.lang.perl.
Most Modules are nested in categories such as IPC::Open2 and IPC::Open3.
These are shown as 'IPC::' on one line then each module listed below
with a '::' prefix.
Modules listed as in the 'i' Development Stage with no contact
reference are ideas without an owner. Feel free to 'adopt' these but
please let me know so that I can update the list and thus inform anyone
else who might be interested. Adoption simply means that you intend to
implement the module or would like to work closely with anyone else who
wants to implement it.
Similarly, if an idea that interestes you has been adopted by someone
please contect them so you can share ideas. Just because an idea has
been adopted does not imply that it's going to be implemented. Waiting
silently in the hope that the Module will appear one day is unlikely to
be fruitful!
All the information corresponds to the latest update I have received.
I don't record the version number or release dates of the listed
Modules. Nor do I record the locations of these Modules. Consult the
contact, try the usual perl archive sites or ask in comp.lang.perl.
Please do *not* ask me directly, I simply don't have the time. Sorry.
=======================================================================
Perl Core Modules
Name DSLI Descrition Info
----------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
AutoLoader Sup Automatic perl module method loader
DynaLoader Suc Dynamic loader for shared libraries
Exporter Sup Implements default import method for modules
Carp Sup Throw exceptions outside current package
Config Sup Stores details of perl build configuration
English Sup Defines English names for special variables
strict Sup Controls averments (similar to pragmas)
integer Sup Controls float vs. integer arithmetic
less Sup Controls optimisations: 'use less memory;'
subs Sup "use subs qw(x y)" is short for "sub x; sub y;"
TieHash Sup Base class for implementing tied hashes
=======================================================================
Development Support
Name DSLI Descrition Info
----------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
AutoSplit Supf Splits modules into files for AutoLoader
Benchmark Supf Easy way to time fragments of perl code
ExtUtils::
::MakeMaker SupO Writes Makefiles for extensions
::DynaGlue i Utilities/glue code for C<->Perl interfaces
Test::
::Harness Sup Executes perl-style tests
Devel::
::Profile i Execution profiler and test coverage checker
::Debug i Function and class debugging support
=======================================================================
Operating System Interfaces
Name DSLI Descrition Info
----------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
POSIX SupO An interface to most (all?) of POSIX.1
Fcntl bdcf Defines fcntl() constants (see File::Lock) JHI
Errno i Constants from <errno.h> EACCES, ENOENT etc JHI
BSD::
::Remote adpf getrusage(), s/getrlimit(), s/getpriority() JHI
::HostIdent adpf s/gethostname(), s/gethostid() JHI
Sys::
::Hostname Supf Implements a portable hostname function
::Syslog Supf Provides the same functionality as BSD syslog
=======================================================================
Networking, Device Control (modems etc) and Interprocess Communication
Name DSLI Descrition Info
----------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
Socket Sucf Defines all socket-related constants
Net::
::Ping Supf Implements TCP/IP ping (currently only echo) PMQS
::IRC i Internet Relay Chat interface MRG
::FTP idpf Implements File Transfer Protocol interface GSPAF
::Telnet i
::SOCKS i TCP/IP access through firewalls using SOCKS WSCOT
::NIS cdcO Interface to Sun's NIS RIK
::NISPlus cdcO Interface to Sun's NIS+ RIK
IPC::
::Open2 Supf
::Open3 Supf
::Chat2 ? Out-of-service during refit!
::SysV i shared memory, semaphores, messages etc JHI
::Mmap i Interface to Unix's mmap() shared memory
Proxy:: adpO Transport-independent remote processing MICB
::Tk aucO Tk transport class for Proxy (part of Tk) MICB
=======================================================================
Data Types and Data Type Utilities (see also Database Interfaces)
Name DSLI Descrition Info
----------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
Math::
::BigInt SupO Arbitrary size integer math package MB
::BigFloat ?
::BigRat ?
::Complex adpO Complex number data type DNAD
Array::
::Vec idp Implement array using vec() LWALL
::Substr idp Implement array using substr() LWALL
::Virtual idp Implement array using a file LWALL
Time::
::Local Supf Implements timelocal() and timegm()
::Time adcf High resolution timers and time-of-day JHI
::Date idpO Lightweight normalised datetime data type TPB
::Interval idpO Lightweight normalised interval data type TPB
Tie::
::ShiftSplice i Defines shift et al in terms of splice LWALL
::Quick i Simple way to create ties TPB
::Watch i Uses Tie::Quick to watch a variable TPB
Eroot bdpO Eternal Root. Object persistence. DMR
Class bdpr Struct/member template builder. DMR
=======================================================================
Database Interfaces (see also Data Types)
Name DSLI Descrition Info
----------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
DBI amcO Generic Database Interface (see DBD modules) DBPRL
DBD::
::Ingres cmcO Ingres Driver for DBI TPB
::Oracle cmcO Oracle Driver for DBI TPB
::Msql cdcO Msql Driver for DBI ANDK
::DB2 cdcO DB2 Driver for DBI MHM
::Sybase idcO Sybase Driver for DBI MEWP
SybaseDB adcf Sybase DBlibrary interface MEWP
MSQL adcf Mini-SQL, a light weight SQL database ANDK
Tied Hash File Interfaces:
NDBM_File Suc Tie interface to NDBM files
DB_File Suc Tie interface to DB files PMQS
GDBM_File Suc Tie interface to GDBM files
SDBM_File Suc Tie interface to SDBM files
ODBM_File Suc Tie interface to ODBM files
AnyDBM_File Sup Uses first available *_File module above
AsciiDB adp Generic text database parsing MICB
Stanza adp Text format database used by OSF and IBM JHI
=======================================================================
User Interfaces (character and graphical)
Name DSLI Descrition Info
----------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
Term::
::Cap Supf Basic termcap: Tgetent, Tputs, Tgoto
::Info adpf Terminfo interface (currently just Tput) KJALB
::Complete Supf Tab word completion using stty raw
::Readline adc GNU Readline, history and completion ANDK
::Control idpf Basic curses-type screen controls (gotxy) TYEMQ
::Read cdcf Terminal reading functions (getkey) TYEMQ
Major User Interface Tools:
Curses adcO Character screen handling and windowing WPS
Tk adcO X-Windows: Tk widgets ala Tk/Tcl MICB
Sx adc X-Windows: Simple Athena interface FMC
=======================================================================
File Names, File Systems, File Locking and File Handles
Name DSLI Descrition Info
----------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
File::
::Basename Supf Return basename of a filename
::CheckTree Supf Check file/dir tree against a specification
::Find Supf Call func for every item in a directory tree
::Lock adcf File locking using flock() and lockf() JHI
::KGlob cdcf Filename globing (ksh style) TYEMQ
::Attrib idpO Get/set file attributes (stat) TYEMQ
Cwd Supf Current working directory functions
FileHandle Supf File handle manipulation functions
=======================================================================
Text Processing, Parsing and Searching
Name DSLI Descrition Info
----------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
Text::
::Abbrev Supf Builds hash of all possible abbreviations
::ParseWords Supf Parse strings containing shell-style quoting
::Soundex Supf Convert a string to a soundex value
::CPP i A C preprocessor work-alike (for perl -P)
Search::
::Dict Supf Search a dictionary ordered text file
=======================================================================
Option Processing
Name DSLI Descrition Info
----------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
Getopt::
::Std Supf Implements basic getopt and getopts
::Long Supf Advanced option handling JV
=======================================================================
Internationalization and Locale
Name DSLI Descrition Info
----------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
I18N::
::Collate bdpr Locale based comparisons JHI
::WideMulti i Wide and multibyte character string JHI
=======================================================================
Interfaces to Other Software Systems
Name DSLI Descrition Info
----------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
Mail::
::SMTP i Protocol support including expn
::RFC822 i Functions for RFC822 address manipulations
::MH adcr MH mail interface MRG
News::
=======================================================================
Information / Contact Reference Details (in alphabetical order)
Ref Contact Details
----- ------------------------------------------------------
ANDK Andreas Koenig <k...@otto.ww.TU-Berlin.DE>
CLP Usenet: comp.lang.perl, always a good place to enquire
DBPRL DBperl mailing list. <perldb-...@vix.com>
DMR Dean Roehrich <roeh...@cray.com>
DNAD Dave Nadler <nadler@apphpp2>
FMC Frederic Chauveau <f...@pasteur.fr>
GSPAF Gene Spafford <sp...@cs.purdue.edu>
JHI Jarkko Hietaniemi <Jarkko.H...@hut.fi>
JV Johan Vromans
KJALB Kenneth Albanowski <kja...@kjahds.com>
LWALL Larry Wall. Author of Perl. Busy man. <lw...@netlabs.com>
MEWP Michael Peppler <mpep...@itf.ch>
MHM Mike Moran <m...@austin.ibm.com>
MICB Malcolm Beattie <mbea...@sable.ox.ac.uk>
MRG Matthew Green <m...@mame.mu.oz.au>
PMQS Paul Marquess <pmar...@bfsec.bt.co.uk>
RIK Rik Harris <rik.h...@fulcrum.com.au>
TPB Tim Bunce <Tim....@ig.co.uk>
TYEMQ Tye McQueen <t...@metronet.com>
WPS William Setzer <set...@math.ncsu.edu>
WSCOT Wayne Scott <wsc...@ichips.intel.com>
End.