package Algorithm::C3; use strict; use warnings; use Carp 'confess'; our $VERSION = '0.06'; sub merge { my ($root, $parent_fetcher, $cache) = @_; $cache ||= {}; my @STACK; # stack for simulating recursion my $pfetcher_is_coderef = ref($parent_fetcher) eq 'CODE'; unless ($pfetcher_is_coderef or $root->can($parent_fetcher)) { confess "Could not find method $parent_fetcher in $root"; } my $current_root = $root; my $current_parents = [ $root->$parent_fetcher ]; my $recurse_mergeout = []; my $i = 0; my %seen = ( $root => 1 ); while(1) { if($i < @$current_parents) { my $new_root = $current_parents->[$i++]; if($seen{$new_root}) { my @isastack = ( (map { $_->[0] } @STACK), $current_root, $new_root ); shift @isastack while $isastack[0] ne $new_root; my $isastack = join(q{ -> }, @isastack); die "Infinite loop detected in parents of '$root': $isastack"; } $seen{$new_root} = 1; unless ($pfetcher_is_coderef or $new_root->can($parent_fetcher)) { confess "Could not find method $parent_fetcher in $new_root"; } push(@STACK, [ $current_root, $current_parents, $recurse_mergeout, $i, ]); $current_root = $new_root; $current_parents = $cache->{pfetch}->{$current_root} ||= [ $current_root->$parent_fetcher ]; $recurse_mergeout = []; $i = 0; next; } $seen{$current_root} = 0; my $mergeout = $cache->{merge}->{$current_root} ||= do { # This do-block is the code formerly known as the function # that was a perl-port of the python code at # http://www.python.org/2.3/mro.html :) # Initial set (make sure everything is copied - it will be modded) my @seqs = map { [@$_] } (@$recurse_mergeout, $current_parents); # Construct the tail-checking hash my %tails; foreach my $seq (@seqs) { $tails{$_}++ for (@$seq[1..$#$seq]); } my @res = ( $current_root ); while (1) { my $cand; my $winner; foreach (@seqs) { next if !@$_; if(!$winner) { # looking for a winner $cand = $_->[0]; # seq head is candidate next if $tails{$cand}; # he loses if in %tails push @res => $winner = $cand; } if($_->[0] eq $winner) { shift @$_; # strip off our winner $tails{$_->[0]}-- if @$_; # keep %tails sane } } last if !$cand; die q{Inconsistent hierarchy found while merging '} . $current_root . qq{':\n\t} . qq{current merge results [\n\t\t} . (join ",\n\t\t" => @res) . qq{\n\t]\n\t} . qq{merging failed on '$cand'\n} if !$winner; } \@res; }; return @$mergeout if !@STACK; ($current_root, $current_parents, $recurse_mergeout, $i) = @{pop @STACK}; push(@$recurse_mergeout, $mergeout); } } 1; __END__ =pod =head1 NAME Algorithm::C3 - A module for merging hierarchies using the C3 algorithm =head1 SYNOPSIS use Algorithm::C3; # merging a classic diamond # inheritence graph like this: # # # / \ # # \ / # my @merged = Algorithm::C3::merge( 'D', sub { # extract the ISA array # from the package no strict 'refs'; @{$_[0] . '::ISA'}; } ); print join ", " => @merged; # prints D, B, C, A =head1 DESCRIPTION This module implements the C3 algorithm. I have broken this out into it's own module because I found myself copying and pasting it way too often for various needs. Most of the uses I have for C3 revolve around class building and metamodels, but it could also be used for things like dependency resolution as well since it tends to do such a nice job of preserving local precendence orderings. Below is a brief explanation of C3 taken from the L module. For more detailed information, see the L section and the links there. =head2 What is C3? C3 is the name of an algorithm which aims to provide a sane method resolution order under multiple inheritence. It was first introduced in the langauge Dylan (see links in the L section), and then later adopted as the prefered MRO (Method Resolution Order) for the new-style classes in Python 2.3. Most recently it has been adopted as the 'canonical' MRO for Perl 6 classes, and the default MRO for Parrot objects as well. =head2 How does C3 work. C3 works by always preserving local precendence ordering. This essentially means that no class will appear before any of it's subclasses. Take the classic diamond inheritence pattern for instance: / \ \ / The standard Perl 5 MRO would be (D, B, A, C). The result being that B appears before B, even though B is the subclass of B. The C3 MRO algorithm however, produces the following MRO (D, B, C, A), which does not have this same issue. This example is fairly trival, for more complex examples and a deeper explaination, see the links in the L section. =head1 FUNCTION =over 4 =item B This takes a C<$root> node, which can be anything really it is up to you. Then it takes a C<$func_to_fetch_parent> which can be either a CODE reference (see L above for an example), or a string containing a method name to be called on all the items being linearized. An example of how this might look is below: { package A; sub supers { no strict 'refs'; @{$_[0] . '::ISA'}; } package C; our @ISA = ('A'); package B; our @ISA = ('A'); package D; our @ISA = ('B', 'C'); } print join ", " => Algorithm::C3::merge('D', 'supers'); The purpose of C<$func_to_fetch_parent> is to provide a way for C to extract the parents of C<$root>. This is needed for C3 to be able to do it's work. The C<$cache> parameter is an entirely optional performance measure, and should not change behavior. If supplied, it should be a hashref that merge can use as a private cache between runs to speed things up. Generally speaking, if you will be calling merge many times on related things, and the parent fetching function will return constant results given the same arguments during all of these calls, you can and should reuse the same shared cache hash for all of the calls. Example: sub do_some_merging { my %merge_cache; my @foo_mro = Algorithm::C3::Merge('Foo', \&get_supers, \%merge_cache); my @bar_mro = Algorithm::C3::Merge('Bar', \&get_supers, \%merge_cache); my @baz_mro = Algorithm::C3::Merge('Baz', \&get_supers, \%merge_cache); my @quux_mro = Algorithm::C3::Merge('Quux', \&get_supers, \%merge_cache); # ... } =back =head1 CODE COVERAGE I use B to test the code coverage of my tests, below is the B report on this module's test suite. ------------------------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ File stmt bran cond sub pod time total ------------------------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ Algorithm/C3.pm 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 ------------------------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 ------------------------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ =head1 SEE ALSO =head2 The original Dylan paper =over 4 =item L =back =head2 The prototype Perl 6 Object Model uses C3 =over 4 =item L =back =head2 Parrot now uses C3 =over 4 =item L =item L =back =head2 Python 2.3 MRO related links =over 4 =item L =item L =back =head2 C3 for TinyCLOS =over 4 =item L =back =head1 AUTHORS Stevan Little, Estevan@iinteractive.comE Brandon L. Black, Eblblack@gmail.comE =head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE Copyright 2006 by Infinity Interactive, Inc. L This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. =cut