Re: [RFC] Glib::filename_(to|from)_unicode => Glib->filename_(to|from)_unicode?

[muppet <scott asofyet org>]

On Wednesday, December 24, 2003, at 10:05 AM, Ross McFarland wrote:

> A. Pagaltzis said:
> > FWIW, I really hate the latter syntax used in cases where the
> > former would do.  At the same time, that syntax forces Perl to do
> > more work to find the function to call and pass the class name to
> > the function.  The only benefit of the arrow syntax is being able
> > to use inheritance, but is that really a concern here?

philosophically, the benefit of supporting inheritance everywhere is 
that you leave no spot where a calling layer *cannot* override 
something; i am not prescient enough to know ahead of time where some 
guy will find a need override filename_from_unicode to register all 
filenames that get converted, or add a croaking check to ensure that 
the drive is mounted, etc, etc.


> > I'd make
> > a case for all static "class methods" to be called with a package
> > qualifier rather than as class methods.
>
> this is mainly a question of uniformity of api and if is it alright to 
> break
> something that's been put out there in a stable release.

indeed, uniformity of API is why i want to change it, and the fact that 
it will break things is why i'm putting it up for discussion.


> while we're at it we probably ought to take out the prototype keyword
> unless its in there for a specific reason as we haven't used it 
> anywhere else.

the prototype tells the parser how many and what type arguments that 
particular function wants --- in this case, it wants one scalar, and 
the prototype keeps the parser from giving all the elements in a comma 
expression to the function call.

basically, the prototype allows you to omit the parentheses on calls to 
that function, making it behave more like a perl builtin.

-
muppet <scott at asofyet dot org>