NOTE: This presentation is now out of date. Please see http://kablamo.org/slides-intro-to-moofor the most up to date version.

Introductionto Moo

Perl objects with Moo

Eric Johnson / @kablamo_

About Moo

• OO sugar
• Extensible - see MooX:: on MetaCPAN
• Community approved - used in 698 CPAN modules
• Created by Matt Trout (MST), first release in 2010
• (Moose is used in 2320 CPAN modules)
• (Moose was created by Stevan Little, first release in 2006)

Why Moo

• Matt liked Moose, but
• Sometimes people refuse to use Moose

Moo features

• Compatible syntax
• Moo objects work with Moose roles
• Moose objects work with Moo roles
• If you need introspection, Moo can inflate to Moose

Moo classes

• Moo classes have
  • Constructor/destructor
  • Attributes
  • Methods
  • Method modifiers
  • Introspection
• Moo classes do roles

use Moo

use Moo;
          

is equivalent to

use strict;                   # strict vars, refs, subs
use warnings FATAL => 'all';
no indirect;                  # can't do `my $alien = new Alien;`
no multidimensional;          # can't do `$hash{1,2}`
no bareword::filehandles;     # can't do `open FH, $filename`
use base 'Moo::Object';       # provides new(), etc
          

also use Moo imports some methods:

extends(), with(), has(), before(), around(), and after()

Don't use namespace::autoclean

It inflates your Moo class to a Moose class

Object construction

my $alien = Alien->new(@args)

BUILDARGS

is called before instantiation

package Alien;
use Moo;

sub BUILDARGS {
    my ($class, @args) = @_;
   
    # -- modify @args here --
   
    return { @args };
}
          

In Moose you need to call SUPER at the end

BUILD

is called after instantiation

package Alien;
use Moo;

sub BUILD {
    my ($self, $args) = @_;
   
    # -- additional validation or logging here --
}
          

The return value is ignored

Best practice

• Validation and logging are fine in BUILDARGS or BUILD
• Don't do work in BUILDARGS or BUILD
  • It slows down object construction
  • It violates the Principle of Least Astonishment. Users expect new() to just create an object.

DEMOLISH

is called when the object is destroyed

package Alien;
use Moo;

sub DEMOLISH {
    my ($self, $in_global_destruction) = @_;
   
    $self->dbh->disconnect;
}
          

Object destruction

Attributes

Read only vs read/write

package Alien;
use Moo;

has eyes      => (is => 'rw');
has nostrils  => (is => 'ro');
          

my $alien = Alien->new( nostrils => 20 );
$alien->eyes(10);     # succeeds
$alien->nostrils(10); # dies
          

Best practice

• Making attributes mutable means more complexity in your code
• Start with ro attributes
• Convert attributes to rw when you need that

Default vs builders

package Alien;
use Moo;

has eyes     => (is => 'ro', default => sub { 5 });
has nostrils => (is => 'ro', builder => '_build_nostrils');

# Perlism: methods that start with _ are private
sub _build_nostrils { 5 }
          

Best practice

• Use default for very simple defaults
• Use builder for everything else
  • Builders can be overridden and method modified
  • Roles can require builders
• Builders should be private

Lazy attributes

has tentacles => (is => 'lazy');
          

is equivalent to

has tentacles => (is => 'ro', lazy => 1, builder => '_build_tentacles');
          

Moo vs Moose

Use MooseX::AttributeShortcuts to get support for is => 'lazy' in Moose

Best practice

• Lazy attributes are the best - use them as often as you can
• Because defaults are generated during object construction which slows down construction
• The user might not need that attribute so why waste time setting a default

Attribute initialization order

is unpredictable

package Alien;
use Moo;
use Tentacle;

has tentacle_count => (is => 'ro', default => sub { 5 });
has tentacles      => (is => 'ro', builder => '_build_tentacles');

sub _build_tentacles { 
  my $self = shift;
  my @tentacles;

  push @tentacles, Tentacle->new() for (1..$self->tentacle_count);

  return \@tentacles;
}
          

Bug fixed

package Alien;
use Moo;
use Tentacle;

has tentacles      => (is => 'lazy');
has tentacle_count => (is => 'ro', default => sub { 5 });

sub _build_tentacles { 
  my $self = shift;
  my @tentacles;

  push @tentacles, Tentacle->new() for (1..$self->tentacle_count);

  return \@tentacles;
}
          

Types

• Types are a bit up in the air atm. Several choices:
  • Roll your own types using Scalar::Util
  • MooX::Types::MooseLike
  • Specio
  • Type::Tiny - not marked stable, but has 50 upvotes

Scalar::Util

use Scalar::Util qw/looks_like_number/;

has antenna => (
  is  => 'ro', 
  isa => sub { ref(shift) eq 'Antenna'},
);

has antenna_count => (
  is  => 'ro', 
  isa => sub { looks_like_number(shift) },
);
          

MooX::Types::MooseLike

use MooX::Types::MooseLike qw/:all/;
has eyes => (is => 'ro', isa => Int);
          

Type::Tiny

use Types::URI -all;
has uri => (is => 'ro', isa => Uri);

use Types::Standard -all;
has is_from_mars => (is => 'ro', isa => Bool);
          

Building types with Type::Tiny

use Scalar::Util qw(looks_like_number);
use Type::Tiny;
 
my $NUM = "Type::Tiny"->new(
   name       => "Number",
   constraint => sub { looks_like_number($_) },
   message    => sub { "$_ ain't a number" },
); 

has eyes => (is => 'ro', isa => $NUM);
          

Coercions

Coercions are also a bit up in the air atm

Unlike Moose, coercions are separate from type checking

package Client;
use Moo;
use URI;

has uri => (is => 'ro', coerce => \&string_to_uri } );

sub string_to_uri {
  my $value = shift;
  return $value if ref $value eq 'URI'
  return URI->new($value);
}
          

my $client = Client->new( uri => 'http://example.com' );
$client->uri->host;  # returns example.com
          

Don't use types and coercions if you want to preserve the ability to switch from Moo to Moose

Delegation

package ConfigFile;
use Moo;
use Path::Class;

has _file => (
  is      => 'ro', 
  handles => [qw/spew slurp/],
  default => sub { Path::Class::file('.configuration') },
);
          

my $config_file = ConfigFile->new();
$config_file->slurp(); # read in file contents
          

Delegation

package ConfigFile;
use Moo;
use Path::Class;

has _file => (
  is      => 'ro', 
  handles => { write => 'spew', read => 'slurp'},
  default => sub { Path::Class::file('.configuration') },
);
          

my $config_file = ConfigFile->new();
$config_file->read(); # slurp in file contents
          

Triggers

A code reference run after an attribute is set

has cowboy => (
  is      => 'ro', 
  trigger => sub { warn "cowboy attr set"; }
);
          

Method modifiers: before

package Brontosaurus;
extends 'Dinosaur';

before eat => sub {
  my ($self, $food) = @_;

  die "bad params" if $food eq 'meat';
};
          

Receives same params as the original method

Return value is ignored

Good for adding extra validation

Method modifiers: after

package Brontosaurus;
extends 'Dinosaur';

after eat => sub {
  my ($self, $food) = @_;

  $self->log->warning("Brontosaurus does not like to eat $food")
    if $food eq 'meat';
};
          

Receives same params as the original method

Return value is ignored

Good for logging/debugging

Method modifiers: around

package Brontosaurus;
extends 'Dinosaur';

around eat => sub {
  my ($orig, $self, $food) = @_;
  uc $orig->($self, $food);
};
          

Called instead of the original method

Roles

• Similar to Ruby mixins or Java interfaces
• Can have attributes, methods, and do other roles
• Roles add behavior and/or state to a class

Roles example

package Searchable;
use Moo::Role;

# state
has 'number_of_results' => (is => 'ro', default => sub { 5 }); 

# behavior
sub search { ... }
          

package Thing;
use Moo;
with qw/Searchable/;
          

my $thing = Thing->new();
$thing->search();
          

Roles Terminology

• Classes do or consume roles
• Roles are composed into classes

requires

package Searchable;
use Moo::Role;

requires 'search_engine';

sub search { 
  my ($self, $query) = @_;
  my $json = $self->search_engine->search($query);
  return JSON->new->utf8->decode($json);
}
          

package Thing;
use Moo;
with qw/Searchable/;

sub search_engine {
  return Bing->new();
}
          

Zen of Roles

• Roles are shareable between unrelated classes
• Roles are what a class does not what a class is
• Roles add functionality, inheritance specializes

Suggestions for naming roles

• Might end in 'able'
  • Printable
  • Searchable
• Might start with 'Has' or 'Is' or 'Can'
  • HasEngine
  • IsFragile
  • CanBreakDance

Roles vs Inheritance

• Brontosaurus isa Dinosaur
• Brontosaurus does ForagingForPlants (behavior)
• Other Dinosaurs also do the ForagingForPlants role
• Brontosaurus does HasLongTail (state)

Role consumption is introspectable

print "hi" if Thing->does('Searchable');
          

Moo roles vs Moose roles

• In Moose you can apply roles to objects dynamically
• In Moo you can't

THE END

See also

• Dave Rolsky's Intro to Moose talk (from which this talk takes a great deal of inspiration)
• Matt Trout's Moo presentation (video) for Mongueuers de Perl
• Matt Trout's Moo guts presentation at YAPC NA (video)
• #moose on irc.perl.org

Find these slides online at

• kablamo.org/slides-2014-ddg-intro-to-moo
• github.com/kablamo