[Catalyst] plugins; was Re: debug mode

[Dave Rolsky]

On Thu, 7 Jun 2007, Matt S Trout wrote:

> I'm not fond of any magic global if I can possibly avoid it - I find it
> tends to encourage tight coupling of code and action at a distance and
> makes testing and debugging messy.

I agree. A singleton is basically a _very_ thin mask for a global.

> I prefer anything a method call needs to have been either (a) passed to the
> object when it was constructed or (b) passed to the method as it's called.

Basically, what Catalyst seems to have is a sort of listener type of 
pattern, but listening is implicit rather than explicit. It's a little 
weird and magical, but I think it's better than a singleton. I'm not sure 
it's the _best_ solution, as it still seems a little too arcane for my 
tastes.

Also, the docs for this feature could be clearer. I've never quite grokked 
what makes Catalyst decide to look for this method in a class. Is it 
simply _any_ class that's passed in the import list to "use Catalyst"?

The docs refer to "a Catalyst component", but this isn't really 
well-defined. I know it includes models, views, and controllers, but are 
plugins also components?

Also, I know weaken() came up in this discussion. It'd be good if the docs 
addressed exactly when this is needed and give an example.


-dave

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