package Autoincrement;
use warnings;
use strict;

# this is a constructor;
# it sets up whatever it is we're trying to do with the variable and returns an object
sub TIESCALAR {
    my $class = shift;
    my $realdata = 0;
    bless \$realdata, $class;
}

# this method defines what happens when we access the varible
# in this case it looks inside the object reference, get the real value of the counter and increase it by one
sub FETCH {
    my $self = shift;
    return $$self++;
}

# this method stores data to the variable
# in this case, every time we attempt to store something to it, the counter goes back to zero
sub STORE {
    # get the object
    my $self = shift;
    # get the value that was given to the tied variable; it was passed as an argument
    my $value = shift;
    warn "Hi, you said $value\n";
    $$self = 0;
}

1;