[perl5.git] / lib / Memoize / README


Name:		Memoize
What:		Transparently speed up functions by caching return values.
Version:	0.66
Author:		Mark-Jason Dominus (mjd-perl-memoize+@plover.com)

################################################################

How to build me:

	perl Makefile.PL
	make
	make test

There's a very small chance that the tests in speed.t and
expire_module_t.t might fail because of clock skew or bizarre system
load conditions.  If the tests there fail, rerun them and see if the
problem persists.

If the tests work,

	make install

If not, please send me a report that mentions which tests failed.
The address is: mjd-perl-memoize+@plover.com.

################################################################
What's new since 0.65:

Test changes only.  

        0.62 was the fist version that would be distributed with Perl.
        I got so absorbed in integrating it that I wrote some tests
        that used Time::HiRes.  I knew this was safe because
        Time::HiRes is also distributed with the same versions of
        Perl.  I totally forgot that some people will get the module
        off of CPAN without Perl and they may not have TIme::HiRes.
        Sorry!

################################################################
What's new since 0.62:


                            N O T I C E !

    ****************************************************************
    **                                                            **
    **   The TIE option is now strongly deprecated.  It will be   **
    **   permanently removed in the NEXT release of Memoize.      **
    **   Please convert all extant software to use HASH instead.  **
    **                                                            **
    **   See the manual for details.                              **
    **                                                            **
    ****************************************************************

I'm sorry about this.  I hate making incompatible changes.  But as of
v0.65, Memoize is included in the Perl core.  It is about to become
much more difficult to make incompatible interface changes; if I don't
get rid of TIE now, I may not get another chance.

TIE presented serious problems.  First, it had a bizarre syntax.  But
the big problem was that it was difficult and complicated for
expiration manager authors to support; evern expiration manager had to
duplicate the logic for handling TIE.  HASH is much simpler to use,
more powerful, and is trivial for expiration managers to support.

Many long-awaited cleanups and bug fixes. 

Memoize now works under threaded perl

Slow tests speeded up.  More test file improvements.

Long-standing LIST_CACHE bug cleared up---it turns out that there
never was a bug.  I put in tests for it anyway.

Manual increased.
Commit	Line	Data
a0cb3900 JH	1
	2	Name: Memoize
	3	What: Transparently speed up functions by caching return values.
3d4a255c	4	Version: 0.66
a0cb3900 JH	5	Author: Mark-Jason Dominus (mjd-perl-memoize+@plover.com)
	6
	7	################################################################
	8
	9	How to build me:
	10
	11	perl Makefile.PL
	12	make
	13	make test
	14
	15	There's a very small chance that the tests in speed.t and
	16	expire_module_t.t might fail because of clock skew or bizarre system
	17	load conditions. If the tests there fail, rerun them and see if the
	18	problem persists.
	19
	20	If the tests work,
	21
	22	make install
	23
	24	If not, please send me a report that mentions which tests failed.
	25	The address is: mjd-perl-memoize+@plover.com.
	26
	27	################################################################
3d4a255c JH	28	What's new since 0.65:
	29
	30	Test changes only.
	31
	32	0.62 was the fist version that would be distributed with Perl.
	33	I got so absorbed in integrating it that I wrote some tests
	34	that used Time::HiRes. I knew this was safe because
	35	Time::HiRes is also distributed with the same versions of
	36	Perl. I totally forgot that some people will get the module
	37	off of CPAN without Perl and they may not have TIme::HiRes.
	38	Sorry!
	39
	40	################################################################
899dc88a	41	What's new since 0.62:
a0cb3900	42
a0cb3900	43
899dc88a	44	N O T I C E !
a0cb3900	45
899dc88a JH	46	****************************************************************
	47
	48	The TIE option is now strongly deprecated. It will be
	49	permanently removed in the NEXT release of Memoize.
	50	Please convert all extant software to use HASH instead.
	51
	52	See the manual for details.
	53
	54	****************************************************************
a0cb3900	55
899dc88a JH	56	I'm sorry about this. I hate making incompatible changes. But as of
	57	v0.65, Memoize is included in the Perl core. It is about to become
	58	much more difficult to make incompatible interface changes; if I don't
	59	get rid of TIE now, I may not get another chance.
a0cb3900	60
899dc88a JH	61	TIE presented serious problems. First, it had a bizarre syntax. But
	62	the big problem was that it was difficult and complicated for
	63	expiration manager authors to support; evern expiration manager had to
	64	duplicate the logic for handling TIE. HASH is much simpler to use,
	65	more powerful, and is trivial for expiration managers to support.
a0cb3900	66
899dc88a	67	Many long-awaited cleanups and bug fixes.
a0cb3900	68
899dc88a	69	Memoize now works under threaded perl
a0cb3900	70
899dc88a	71	Slow tests speeded up. More test file improvements.
a0cb3900	72
899dc88a JH	73	Long-standing LIST_CACHE bug cleared up---it turns out that there
899dc88a JH	74	never was a bug. I put in tests for it anyway.
a0cb3900	75
899dc88a	76	Manual increased.
a0cb3900	77