How does Perl handle object-oriented programming and classes?

Perl supports object-oriented programming (OOP) and classes, although the syntax and features for OOP in Perl are slightly different from other languages. Perl's OOP model is based on the concept of packages, and classes are implemented as packages.

A class is defined using the "package" keyword, and class methods and properties are defined as subroutines and variables within the package. For example:

package MyClass; sub new { my $class = shift; my $self = {}; bless $self, $class; return $self; } sub my_method { my $self = shift; # code here } 1;

This is a basic class definition, it defines a class called MyClass and a constructor method called "new", which is used to create new instances of the class, and a method called "my_method".

To create an instance of the class, the new method is called:

my $obj = MyClass->new();

To call a method on an instance of the class, the method is called on the instance:

$obj->my_method();

Perl also provides the "bless" function which is used to turn a reference into an object, it is typically used in the constructor. The bless function connects the object (the reference) with the class (the package).

In Perl, classes also have the ability to inherit from other classes, this is done by using the base or