maybe I'm too much confused, but the interesting module File::ShareDir you suggested to me does not solve my doubts. If I read it correctly (and just glanced it atm) it is used to share and expose pure data stored at install time somewhere in the filesystem and make the program to be able to find them at runtime. My situation is more complex, or I'm too blind to see a clean solution.

Maybe a rough piece of pseudocode will show it better:

#
# modules of my distribution:
#

Perl::Teacher
 load_course (then in the program using this module I can call $course
+->get_description)
 load_lesson (then in the program using this module I can call $lesson
+->get_steps)

Perl::Teacher::Course
 new creates a slot for description and one for [lessons]
 get_description 
 get_lessons

Perl::Teacher::Lesson
 new creates a slot for abstract and one for [steps]
 get_abstract
 get_steps


#
# modules outside my distribution, intended to be written by someone e
+lse and installed separately
# (note that these modules should have their own tests under /t folder
+ as any module should)
#

Perl::Teacher::Course::EN::PerlIntro
 isa Perl::Teacher::Course
 $__PACKAGE__::description = 'a fair intro to perl',
 $__PACKAGE__::lessons = [Perl::Teacher::Course::EN::PerlIntro::01_for
+eword , ...]


Perl::Teacher::Course::EN::PerlIntro::01_strictures
 isa Perl::Teacher::Lesson
 $__PACKAGE__::abstract = 'introducing the safety net'
 $__PACKAGE__::steps = [
    # a simple text
    001=>{type=>text,content=>'We now introduce strictures'},
    
    # check_script_compiles is a method exposed by Perl::Teacher
    002=>{ name=>'script compiles', action=>\check_script_compiles() }
    
    # a complex test to be run against student's code
    003=>{type=>test,content=>{ 
            name    => 'strictures',
            # select_child_of is a method exposed by Perl::Teacher
            select_child_of => {
                class => 'PPI::Statement::Include',
                tests => [
                            ['PPI::Token::Word', qr/^use$/],
                            ['PPI::Token::Word', 'strict']
                ],
            },
            hint    => "search perlintro for safety net",
            docs    => ['https://perldoc.perl.org/perlintro.html#Safet
+y-net'],

          }
   }
 ]
[download]

As you can see it is very ugly. I'd like to provide a nice and usable interface to course authors.

One solution I have is to abstract as much as possible the lesson content and provide an higher level language to define a lesson, probably YAML will be enough. I dont like very much this solution because it will force the author to write YAML instead of perl code. If I go for YAML then File::ShareDir can be an option: the Perl::Teacher::Course::EN::PerlIntro simply write 01_strictures.yaml to the disk then the Perl::Teacher object load the course and all its yaml from the disk.

Thanks for the help!

L*