SYNOPSIS

# Create a source from a file
my $Source = Algorithm::Dependency::Source->new( 'file.txt' );

# Create a Weight algorithm object
my $alg = Algorithm::Dependency::Weight->new( source => $Source );

# Find the weight for a single item
my $weight = $alg->weight('foo');
print "The weight of 'foo' is $weight\n";

# Or a group
my $hash = $alg->weight_hash('foo', 'bar', 'baz');
print "The weight of 'foo', 'bar', and 'bar' are $hash->{foo},"
. " $hash->{bar} and $hash->{baz} respectively\n";

# Or all of the items
my $all = $alg->weight_all;
print "The following is a list from heaviest to lightest:\n";
foreach ( sort { $all->{$b} <=> $all->{$a} } keys %$all ) {
print "$_: $all->{$_}\n";
}

DESCRIPTION

In dependency systems, it can often be very useful to calculate an aggregate or sum for one or all items. For example, to find the ``naive install weight'' of a Perl distribution (where ``naive'' means you treat each distribution equally), you would want the distribtion (1) + all its dependencies (n) + all their dependencies (n2) recursively downwards.

If calculated using a normal Algorithm::Dependency object, the result would be (in a simple systems) equal to:

  # Create your normal (non-ordered alg:dep)
  my $dependency = Algorithm::Dependency->new( ... );
  
  # Find the naive weight for an item
  my $weight = scalar($dependency->schedule('itemname'));

"Algorithm::Dependency::Weight" provides a way of doing this with a little more sophistication, and in a way that should work reasonable well across all the Algorithm::Dependency family.

Please note that the this might be a little (or more than a little) slower than it could be for the limited case of generating weights for all of the items at once in a dependency system with no selected items and no circular dependencies. BUT you can at least rely on this class to do the job properly regardless of the particulars of the situation, which is probably more important.

METHODS

new @params

The "new" constructor creates a new "Algorithm::Dependency::Weight" object. It takes a number of key/value pairs as parameters (although at the present time only one).

source => $Source

The "source" param is mostly the same as for Algorithm::Dependency. The one addition is that as a source you can provide an Algorithm::Dependency object, and the Algorithm::Dependency::Source for that will be used.

Returns a new "Algorithm::Dependency::Weight" object, or "undef" on error.

source

The "source" accessor returns the source used for the weight calculations.

This will be either the one passed to the constructor, or the source from inside the "Algorithm::Dependency" object passed as the "source" param (not the object itself, its source).

weight $name

The "weight" method takes the name of a single item and calculates its weight based on the configuration of the "Algorithm::Dependency::Weight" object.

Returns the weight as a scalar (which in the naive case will be an integer, but in more complex uses may be any real number), or "undef" on error.

weight_merged @names

The "weight_merged" method takes the name of a set of items and calculates an aggregated weight for the whole set.

Returns the weight as a scalar, or "undef" on error.

weight_hash @names

The "weight_hash" method takes a list of item names, and calculates their weights.

Returns a reference to a "HASH" with the item names as keys and weights as values, or "undef" on error.

weight_all

The "weight_all" method provides the one-shot method for getting the weights of all items at once. Please note that this does not do anything different or special, but is slightly faster than iterating yourself.

Returns a reference to a "HASH" with the item names as keys and weights as values, or "undef" on error.

TO DO

- Add support for non-naive weights via either custom code or method name

SUPPORT

Bugs should be submitted via the CPAN bug tracker, located at

http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Algorithm-Dependency <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Algorithm-Dependency>

For general comments, contact the author.

AUTHOR

Adam Kennedy <[email protected]>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2003 - 2009 Adam Kennedy.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.