PERL : BLESS

bless associates a reference with a package.

It doesn't matter what the reference is to, it can be to a hash (most common case), to an array (not so common), to a scalar (usually this indicates an inside-out object) or even a reference to a file or directory handle (least common case).

The effect bless-ing has is that it allows you to apply special syntax to the blessed reference.

For example, if a blessed reference is stored in $obj (associated by bless with package "Class"), then $obj->foo(@args) will call a subroutine foo and pass as first argument the reference $objfollowed by the rest of the arguments (@args). The subroutine should be defined in package "Class". If there is no subroutine foo in package "Class", a list of other packages (taken form the array @ISA in the package "Class") will be searched and the first subroutine foo found will be called.

package MyClass;

my $object = { };

bless $object, "MyClass";

Now when you invoke a method on $object, Perl know which package to search for the method.

If the second argument is omitted, as in your example, the current package/class is used.

For the sake of clarity, your example might be written as follows:

sub new { 

  my $class = shift; 

  my $self = { }; 

  bless $self, $class;