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Message-ID: <3900B255.BE396EC4@maxtal.com.au>
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2000 05:56:05 +1000
From: John Max Skaller <skaller@maxtal.com.au>
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To: Gerd.Stolpmann@darmstadt.netsurf.de
CC: caml-list@inria.fr
Subject: Re: When functional languages can be accepted by industry?
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Gerd Stolpmann wrote:

> But this is only a suggestion. Perhaps people want a different tool? I do not
> know. 

My feeling is that Findlib is an excellent tool, but we really need
something a lot more seamless.

Perhaps the first, and simplest step, is to augment the notion
of 'path' from a list of directories to search for a module A,
to the notion that we can navigate the file system _tree_ looking
for 'nested' module name such as D1.D2.B.

What I envisage is that 'opening' a module which turns out to
be a directory is some special file, plus the modules in
that directory. These 'nested' modules are written 'as if nested
in their parent'.

In other words, this compilation model is a 'lexical convention'
for writing

	(* module top *)
	(* .. code for top .. *)
	module submod1 = ..
	module submod2 = ...

Just as there is a convention that a 'plain' *.ml file is a top
level module, a directory represents a special module whose primary
function is namespace control.

This requires a change to the compiler I think. It is not a total
package control mechanism, but it alleviates the namespace
pollution problem, and makes the files of a package easier to install
using a directory tree (perhaps using symbolic links ..).

BTW: it isn't clear whether the directory's module file (called
__init__.py
in python) is a good idea.


-- 
John (Max) Skaller, mailto:skaller@maxtal.com.au
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