Lexical::Attributes

Lexical::Attributes is a promising Perl module that proposes an enhanced encapsulation mechanism. This module makes use of a source filter to conceal the intricacies of the Inside-Out Objects approach from the user. This module provides a way of declaration of variables that belong to an object, stored in lexical hashes, rather than piggybacking on the reference that forms the object. Each attribute is assigned its own lexical hash that is indexed using the object, and this technique is transparently accomplished using a source filter.

The use of this module can be demonstrated through a SYNOPSIS example, which includes features such as the declaration of scalar variables, read-only key variables, and array and hash variables that are both readable and writable. Additionally, this module is experimental software hence certain things may change as it is still a work in progress. This module serves as an improvement from the default OO mechanism of Perl that fails to deliver good data encapsulation.

Note that there were significant changes between releases 1.3 and 1.4 of this module. This means that code that previously worked with version 1.3 or earlier may not be compatible with version 1.4 or later. Therefore, it's important to be updated with the latest version if one intends to use this module.