AutoLoader(3)						User Contributed Perl Documentation					     AutoLoader(3)

NAME

       PDL::AutoLoader - MatLab style AutoLoader for PDL

SYNOPSIS

	use PDL::AutoLoader;
	$a = func1(...);   # Load file func1.pdl
	$b = func2(...);   # Load file func2.pdl

	$PDL::AutoLoader::Rescan = 1; # Enable re-scanning

DESCRIPTION

       This module implements a MatLab style AutoLoader for PDL. If a unknown function 'func()' is called then a file 'func.pdl' is searched for
       and if found is read in to define 'func()' which is then executed.

       Files are seached for using the directories in seach path @PDLLIB, which is initialised from the shell environment variable "PDLLIB" which
       is a colon seperated list of directories.

       e.g. in csh

	setenv PDLLIB "/home/kgb/pdllib:/local/pdllib"

       Note this is kept seperate from "PERL5LIB" just in case.

       As an added bonus, you can use a leading '+' on a directory name to search not just that directory but the entire directory tree under it
       (excluding symlinks).  The subdirs are determined by explicit search, and searches occur at startup and again each time you change the num-
       ber of elements in @PDLLIB.

       For example,
	 setenv PDLLIB "+~kgb/PDL"

       will search /home/kgb/PDL and all its subdirectories for .pdl files.

       AUTO-SCANNING

       The variable $PDL::AutoLoader::Rescan controls whether files are automatically re-scanned for changes at the "perldl" command line.

       If "$PDL::AutoLoader::Rescan == 1" and the file is changed then the new definition is reloaded auto-matically before executing the "perldl"
       command line. Which means in practice you can edit files, save changes and have "perldl" see the changes automatically.

       The default is '0' - i.e. to have this feature disabled.

       As this feature is only pertinent to the "perldl" shell it imposes no overhead on PDL scripts. Yes Bob you can have your cake and eat it
       too!

       Note: files are only re-evaled if they are determined to have been changed according to their date/time stamp.

       No doubt this interface could be improved upon some more. :-)

       Sample file:

	sub foo { # file 'foo.pdl' - define the 'foo' function
	  my $x=shift;
	  return sqrt($x**2 + $x**3 + 2);
	}
	1; # File returns true (i.e. loaded successfully)

AUTHOR

       Copyright(C) 1997 Karl Glazebrook (kgb@aaoepp.aao.gov.au); several extensions by Craig DeForest (deforest@boulder.swri.edu) All rights
       reserved. There is no warranty. You are allowed to redistribute this software / documentation under certain conditions. For details, see
       the file COPYING in the PDL distribution. If this file is separated from the PDL distribution, the copyright notice should be included in
       the file.

BUGS

       No doubt this interface could be improved upon some more. :-)

       Will probably be quite slow if "$PDL::AutoLoader::Rescan == 1" and thousands of functions have been autoloaded.

       There could be a race condition in which the file changes while the internal autoloader code is being executed but it should be harmless.

       Probably has not been tested enough!

perl v5.8.0							    2002-08-06							     AutoLoader(3)