That's a very confusing example because it looks like an object but isn't. That example would still work if you remove the OO looking stuff:
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
use strict;
my $dave = subref("dave", "oranges", "grapefruit");
$dave->("debug message");
sub subref {
my (@stuff) = @_;
return sub { doit(@stuff, @_) }; # <-- closure here?
}
sub doit {
print shift, ": ", join(",", @_), "\n";
}
Yes, it is a closure, but it's also an anonymous sub ref, so it's showing multiple things. Here's a much simpler closure:
my $foo;
sub bar {
$foo++;
}
After execution, bar() has a private copy of $foo.
TheDamian uses this in his book to do private variables for classes.