NAME

       PPI::Token::Prototype - A subroutine prototype descriptor

INHERITANCE

         PPI::Token::End
         isa PPI::Token
             isa PPI::Element

SYNOPSIS

         sub ($@) prototype;

DESCRIPTION

       Although it sort of looks like a list or condition, a subroutine prototype is a lot more
       like a string. Its job is to provide hints to the perl compiler on what type of arguments
       a particular subroutine expects, which the compiler uses to validate parameters at
       compile-time, and allows programmers to use the functions without explicit parameter
       parens.

       Due to the rise of OO Perl coding, which ignores these prototypes, they are most often
       used to allow for constant-like things, and to "extend" the language and create things
       that act like keywords and core functions.

         # Create something that acts like a constant
         sub MYCONSTANT () { 10 }

         # Create the "any" core-looking function
         sub any (&@) { ... }

         if ( any { $_->cute } @babies ) {
               ...
         }

METHODS

       This class provides one additional method beyond those defined by the PPI::Token and
       PPI::Element parent classes.

   prototype
       The "prototype" accessor returns the actual prototype pattern, stripped of flanking parens
       and of all whitespace. This mirrors the behavior of the Perl "prototype" builtin function.

       Note that stripping parens and whitespace means that the return of "prototype" can be an
       empty string.

SUPPORT

       See the support section in the main module.

AUTHOR

       Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2001 - 2011 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.