[Bioperl-l] Auto-method caller proposal

[Nathan (Nat) Goodman]

On Jan 3, 2007, at 1:09 PM, Sendu Bala wrote:

> I propose a method that sets method values based on user-supplied args 
> to new()...

You might take a look at Class::AutoClass and its companion
Class::AutoClass::Args (both available in CPAN) which do most of what you
want.  We use it extensively.  It handles auto-generation of set and get
methods but can also be used to pass arguments into programmer-coded
methods.  It's already used in BioPerl in Bio::Graph::SimpleGraph, a module
that we provided for a specialized purpose (may be obsolete). 

Historical background: we offered AutoClass to BioPerl years ago, but it was
shot down by senior members of the development community.  If I recall
correctly, there was concern about debuggability and understandability of
code that relied on auto-generated methods and too much magic argument
processing.  These are reasonable concerns. Perhaps these issues should be
aired again to make sure the key people agree with this direction before too
much effort is spent

Best, 
Nat