=head1 TITLE

Replace AUTOLOAD by a more flexible mechanism

=head1 VERSION

  Maintainer: Ilya Zakharevich <ilya@math.ohio-state.edu>
  Date: 15 Sep 2000
  Mailing List: perl6-language@perl.org
  Number: 232
  Version: 1
  Status: Developing

=head1 ABSTRACT

This RFC proposes two-stage autoloading: one stage may be registered
to act when the symbol is encountered at compile time, the other
when the subroutine is called.  Autoloading on the second stage does not
I<call> the subroutine, only I<loads> it. 

=head1 DESCRIPTION

AUTOLOAD interface was created before closures were available.  Because of
this, it combines two actions into one call: it loads the subroutine,
and calls it.

This two actions should be separated.  Additionally, some action may be needed
during compile time.  For example, one may fetch the prototype of the function,
or even call the function, so that its (constant) value may be used in this
and other calls.

[WIth the current implementation I<all> the prototypes should be loaded no
matter what, with significant memory and time overheads.]

When a symbol for an undefined subroutine is seen at compile time, the
C<proto> action is invoked.  It should return C<undef> if no such symbol
could be autoloaded (so that the symbol may be searched further in the @ISA
tree).  It should return the prototype if the symbol could be found.  This
call may have arbitrary side effects, such as defining the subroutine, or even
calling it (useful for constant XSUBs).

When an undefined subroutine is about to be called, the C<load> action is
invoked.  It should return a reference to a subroutine, or C<undef> to signal
that search should be continued further in the @ISA tree.

In both cases, the argument for the action is the name of the subroutine.
If the subroutine has two different names (it was created with one name, and
was imported with a different name), both names are provided.

The C<proto> and C<load> subroutines may be registered (both or any one) with
the pragma

  use autoload ':proto' => sub {}, ':load' => sub {};

=head1 MIGRATION ISSUES

None.

[The current AUTOLOAD mechanism saves creation of a subroutine frame, since
the actual call to the subroutine may be done via C<goto>.  If this is proved
to provide some advantage, AUTOLOAD mechanism may be preserved as well.]

=head1 IMPLEMENTATION

Straightforward.

=head1 REFERENCES

None.