Class::Accessor::Faster is even faster than Class::Accessor::Fast.  It uses an
array internally, not a hash.  This could be a good or bad feature depending on
your point of view.

Direct hash access is, of course, much faster than all of these, but it
provides no encapsulation.

Of course, its not as simple as saying "Class::Accessor is slower than
average".  These are benchmarks for a simple accessor.  If your accessors do
any sort of complicated work (such as talking to a database or writing to a
file) the time spent doing that work will quickly swamp the time spend just
calling the accessor.  In that case, Class::Accessor and the ones you write
will be roughly the same speed.


=head1 EXAMPLES

Here's an example of generating an accessor for every public field of
your class.

    package Altoids;
    
    use base qw(Class::Accessor Class::Fields);
    use fields qw(curiously strong mints);
    Altoids->mk_accessors( Altoids->show_fields('Public') );

    sub new {
        my $proto = shift;
        my $class = ref $proto || $proto;
        return fields::new($class);
    }

    my Altoids $tin = Altoids->new;

    $tin->curiously('Curiouser and curiouser');
    print $tin->{curiously};    # prints 'Curiouser and curiouser'

    
    # Subclassing works, too.
    package Mint::Snuff;
    use base qw(Altoids);

    my Mint::Snuff $pouch = Mint::Snuff->new;
    $pouch->strong('Blow your head off!');
    print $pouch->{strong};     # prints 'Blow your head off!'


Here's a simple example of altering the behavior of your accessors.

    package Foo;
    use base qw(Class::Accessor);
    Foo->mk_accessor(qw(this that up down));

    sub get {
        my $self = shift;

        # Note every time someone gets some data.
        print STDERR "Getting @_\n";

        $self->SUPER::get(@_);
    }

    sub set {
        my ($self, $key) = splice(@_, 0, 2);

        # Note every time someone sets some data.
        print STDERR "Setting $key to @_\n";

        $self->SUPER::set($key, @_);
    }


=head1 CAVEATS AND TRICKS

Class::Accessor has to do some internal wackiness to get its
job done quickly and efficiently.  Because of this, there's a few
tricks and traps one must know about.

Hey, nothing's perfect.

=head2 Don't make a field called DESTROY

This is bad.  Since DESTROY is a magical method it would be bad for us
to define an accessor using that name.  Class::Accessor will
carp if you try to use it with a field named "DESTROY".

=head2 Overriding autogenerated accessors

You may want to override the autogenerated accessor with your own, yet
have your custom accessor call the default one.  For instance, maybe
you want to have an accessor which checks its input.  Normally, one
would expect this to work:

    package Foo;
    use base qw(Class::Accessor);
    Foo->mk_accessors(qw(email this that whatever));

    # Only accept addresses which look valid.
    sub email {
        my($self) = shift;