NAME

ReadonlyX - Faster facility for creating read-only scalars, arrays, hashes

Synopsis

    use strict;
    use warnings;
    use ReadonlyX;

    # Read-only scalar
    my $sca1;
    Readonly::Scalar $sca1    => 3.14;
    Readonly::Scalar my $sca2 => time;
    Readonly::Scalar my $sca3 => 'Welcome';
    my $sca4 = time();
    Readonly::Scalar $sca4; # Value is not clobbered

    # Read-only array
    my @arr1;
    Readonly::Array @arr1 => [1 .. 4];

    # or:
    Readonly::Array my @arr2 => (1, 3, 5, 7, 9);

    # Read-only hash
    my %hash1;
    Readonly::Hash %hash1    => (key => 'value', key2 => 'value');
    Readonly::Hash my %hash2 => (key => 'value', key2 => 'value');

    # or:
    Readonly::Hash my %hash3 => {key => 'value', key2 => 'value'};

    # You can use the read-only variables like any regular variables:
    print $sca1;
    my $something = $sca1 + $arr1[2];
    warn 'Blah!' if $hash1{key2};

    # But if you try to modify a value, your program will die:
    $sca2 = 7;           # "Modification of a read-only value attempted"
    push @arr1, 'seven'; # "Modification of a read-only value attempted"
    $arr1[1] = 'nine';   # "Modification of a read-only value attempted"
    delete $hash1{key};  # Attempt to delete readonly key 'key' from a restricted hash

    # Create mutable clones
    Readonly::Scalar $scalar => {qw[this that]};
    # $scalar->{'eh'} = 'foo'; # Modification of a read-only value attempted
    my $scalar_clone = Readonly::Clone $scalar;
    $scalar_clone->{'eh'} = 'foo';
    # $scalar_clone is now {this => 'that', eh => 'foo'};

Description

This is a near-drop-in replacement for Readonly, the popular facility for creating non-modifiable variables. This is useful for configuration files, headers, etc. It can also be useful as a development and debugging tool for catching updates to variables that should not be changed.

If you really need to have immutable variables in new code, use this instead of Readonly. You'll thank me later. See the section entitled "ReadonlyX vs. Readonly" for more.

Functions

All of these functions can be imported into your package by name.

Readonly::Scalar

    Readonly::Scalar $pi      => 3.14;
    Readonly::Scalar my $aref => [qw[this that]]; # list ref
    Readonly::Scalar my $href => {qw[this that]}; # hash ref

Creates a non-modifiable scalar and assigns a value of to it. Thereafter, its value may not be changed. Any attempt to modify the value will cause your program to die.

If the given value is a reference to a scalar, array, or hash, then this function will mark the scalar, array, or hash it points to as being readonly as well, and it will recursively traverse the structure, marking the whole thing as readonly.

If the variable is already readonly, the program will die with an error about reassigning readonly variables.

Readonly::Array

    Readonly::Array @arr1    => [1 .. 4];
    Readonly::Array my @arr2 => (1, 3, 5, 7, 9);

Creates a non-modifiable array and assigns the specified list of values to it. Thereafter, none of its values may be changed; the array may not be lengthened or shortened. Any attempt to do so will cause your program to die.

If any of the values passed is a reference to a scalar, array, or hash, then this function will mark the scalar, array, or hash it points to as being Readonly as well, and it will recursively traverse the structure, marking the whole thing as Readonly.

If the variable is already readonly, the program will die with an error about reassigning readonly variables.

Readonly::Hash

    Readonly::Hash %h => (key => 'value', key2 => 'value');
    Readonly::Hash %h => {key => 'value', key2 => 'value'};

Creates a non-modifiable hash and assigns the specified keys and values to it. Thereafter, its keys or values may not be changed. Any attempt to do so will cause your program to die.

A list of keys and values may be specified (with parentheses in the synopsis above), or a hash reference may be specified (curly braces in the synopsis above). If a list is specified, it must have an even number of elements, or the function will die.

If any of the values is a reference to a scalar, array, or hash, then this function will mark the scalar, array, or hash it points to as being Readonly as well, and it will recursively traverse the structure, marking the whole thing as Readonly.

If the variable is already readonly, the program will die with an error about reassigning readonly variables.

Readonly::Clone

    my $scalar_clone = Readonly::Clone $scalar;

When cloning using Storable or Clone you will notice that the value stays readonly, which is correct. If you want to clone the value without copying the readonly flag, use this.

    Readonly::Scalar my $scalar => {qw[this that]};
    # $scalar->{'eh'} = 'foo'; # Modification of a read-only value attempted
    my $scalar_clone = Readonly::Clone $scalar;
    $scalar_clone->{'eh'} = 'foo';
    # $scalar_clone is now {this => 'that', eh => 'foo'};

In this example, the new variable ($scalar_clone) is a mutable clone of the original $scalar. You can change it like any other variable.

Examples

Here are a few very simple examples again to get you started:

Scalars

A plain old read-only value:

    Readonly::Scalar $a => "A string value";

The value need not be a compile-time constant:

    Readonly::Scalar $a => $computed_value;

Need an undef constant? Okay:

    Readonly::Scalar $a;

Arrays/Lists

A read-only array:

    Readonly::Array @a => (1, 2, 3, 4);

The parentheses are optional:

    Readonly::Array @a => 1, 2, 3, 4;

You can use Perl's built-in array quoting syntax:

    Readonly::Array @a => qw[1 2 3 4];

You can initialize a read-only array from a variable one:

    Readonly::Array @a => @computed_values;

A read-only array can be empty, too:

    Readonly::Array @a => ();
    # or
    Readonly::Array @a;

Hashes

Typical usage:

    Readonly::Hash %a => (key1 => 'value1', key2 => 'value2');
    # or
    Readonly::Hash %a => {key1 => 'value1', key2 => 'value2'};

A read-only hash can be initialized from a variable one:

    Readonly::Hash %a => %computed_values;

A read-only hash can be empty:

    Readonly::Hash %a => ();
    # or
    Readonly::Hash %a;

If you pass an odd number of values, the program will die:

    Readonly::Hash my %a => (key1 => 'value1', "value2");
    # This dies with "Odd number of elements in hash assignment"

ReadonlyX vs. Readonly

The original Readonly module was written nearly twenty years ago when the built-in capability to lock variables didn't exist in perl's core. The original author came up with the amazingly brilliant idea to use the new (at the time) "tie(...)" construct. It worked amazingly well! But it wasn't long before the speed penalty of tied varibles became embarrassingly obvious. Check any review of Readonly written before 2013; the main complaint was how slow it was and the benchmarks proved it.

In an equally brilliant move to work around tie, Readonly::XS was released for perl 5.8.9 and above. This bypassed "tie(...)" for basic scalars which made a huge difference.

During all this, two very distinct APIs were also designed and supported by Readonly. One for (then) modern perl and one written for perl 5.6. To make this happen, time consuming eval operations were required and the codebase grew so complex that fixing bugs was nearly impossible. Readonly was three different modules all with different sets of quirks and bugs to fix depending on what version of perl and what other modules you had installed. It was a mess.

So, after the original author abandoned both Readonly and Readonly::XS, as bugs were found, they went unfixed. The combination of speed and lack of development spawned several similar modules which usually did a better job but none were a total drop-in replacement.

Until now.

ReadonlyX is the best of recent versions of Readonly without the old API and without the speed penalty of "tie(...)". It's what I'd like to do with Readonly if resolving bugs in it wouldn't break 16 years of code out there in Darkpan.

In short, unlike Readonly, ReadonlyX...

...does not use slow "tie(...)" magic or eval. There shouldn't be a speed penalty after making the structure immutable. See the Benchmarks section below

...does not strive to work on perl versions I can't even find a working build of to test against

...has a single, clean API! What do all of these different forms of the original Readonly API do?

    use Readonly;
    Readonly  my @array1        => [2];
    Readonly \my @array2        => [2];
    Readonly::Array  my @array3 => [2];
    Readonly::Array1 my @array4 => [2];

Be careful because they all behave very differently. Even your version of perl and the contents of the list changes how they work. Give up? Yeah, me too. Bonus: Guess which one doesn't actually make the list items read only.

...does the right thing when it comes to deep vs. shallow structures

...allows implicit undef values for scalars (Readonly inconsistantly allows this for hashes and arrays but not scalars)

...a lot more I can't think of right now but will add when they come to me

...is around 100 lines instead of 460ish so maintaining it will be a breeze

...doesn't clobber predefined variables when making them readonly

Using Readonly, this:

    my @array = qw[very important stuff];
    Readonly::Array @array;
    print "@array";

...wouldn't print anything. I consider it a bug but I'm not sure why it was designed this way originally. With ReadonlyX, you won't lose your 'very important stuff'.

Note that this is an incompatible change! If you attempt to do this and then switch to plain 'ol Readonly, your code will not work.

Benchmarks

Don't believe Readonly is slow? Here's the result of basic benchmarking:

    Hash Benchmark: timing 5000000 iterations of const, normal, readonly, readonlyx...
         const:  3 wallclock secs ( 2.73 usr +  0.02 sys =  2.75 CPU) @ 1818181.82/s (n=5000000)
        normal:  3 wallclock secs ( 3.02 usr + -0.02 sys =  3.00 CPU) @ 1666666.67/s (n=5000000)
      readonly: 47 wallclock secs (40.64 usr +  0.03 sys = 40.67 CPU) @ 122931.67/s (n=5000000)
     readonlyx:  4 wallclock secs ( 3.22 usr + -0.01 sys =  3.20 CPU) @ 1560549.31/s (n=5000000)
    Array Benchmark: timing 5000000 iterations of const, normal, readonly, readonlyx...
         const:  3 wallclock secs ( 2.19 usr +  0.03 sys =  2.22 CPU) @ 2253267.24/s (n=5000000)
        normal:  1 wallclock secs ( 1.44 usr +  0.00 sys =  1.44 CPU) @ 3474635.16/s (n=5000000)
      readonly: 36 wallclock secs (32.52 usr +  0.13 sys = 32.64 CPU) @ 153181.58/s (n=5000000)
     readonlyx:  1 wallclock secs ( 1.12 usr + -0.02 sys =  1.11 CPU) @ 4512635.38/s (n=5000000)
    Scalar Benchmark: timing 5000000 iterations of const, normal, readonly, readonlyx...
         const:  1 wallclock secs ( 1.14 usr + -0.02 sys =  1.12 CPU) @ 4448398.58/s (n=5000000)
        normal:  1 wallclock secs ( 0.99 usr +  0.02 sys =  1.00 CPU) @ 4995005.00/s (n=5000000)
      readonly:  1 wallclock secs ( 1.25 usr +  0.00 sys =  1.25 CPU) @ 4000000.00/s (n=5000000)
     readonlyx:  2 wallclock secs ( 1.20 usr +  0.00 sys =  1.20 CPU) @ 4156275.98/s (n=5000000)

Find the script to run them yourself in "eg/benchmark.pl".

Requirements

There are no non-core requirements.

Bug Reports

If email is better for you, my address is mentioned below but I would rather have bugs sent through the issue tracker found at http://github.com/sanko/readonly/issues.

ReadonlyX can be found is the branch of Readonly found here: https://github.com/sanko/readonly/tree/ReadonlyX

Author

Sanko Robinson <sanko@cpan.org> - http://sankorobinson.com/

CPAN ID: SANKO

License and Legal

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.