Perl for C Programmers

How import and AUTOLOAD Work

Perl follows the following algorithm when you call the function:

package–>method()

First, it looks in the package for the given method. Then it searches through all the methods in all the packages specified by the @ISA array.

Next, it searches for an AUTOLOAD method using the same search algorithm. If it finds one, it calls it using the statement

package–>AUTOLOAD(package, method, arguments);

Remember that Perl is an interpreted language. It is entirely possible to define a new subroutine during the middle of a program’s execution. The AUTOLOAD method facilitates this process. The idea is that if you don’t have a method defined, you can use the AUTOLOAD method to define it and then execute it.

The reason Perl lets ...