Re: real time alias?

[Ray Andrews <rayandrews@eastlink.ca>]

On 18/03/18 04:01 PM, Bart Schaefer wrote:
> On Mar 16, 11:56am, Ray Andrews wrote:
> }
>
> Sure, but it doesn't keep track of whether "c" is the ONLY function
> that came from that file.  It wouldn't be safe to automatically re-
> source just any such file.  Telling zsh which files can be sourced
> that way is the job of "autoload".
I sorta see that.  When I tried autoload a while back it was a bit of a 
disaster because my functions mostly have subsidiary functions in the 
same file and I wanted them all autoloaded at the same time, which IIRC 
autoload does not do.  But, given that a file is sourced or not sourced 
I get a glimmer now of why it better only have one function given what 
you've just said.  The logical level of the file is relevant to sourcing 
but not relevant to anything else. And the bureaucracy of trying to keep 
it all straight would be onerous.
>
> Although it does seem ripe for unintended side-effects.
Yeah, and I guess any user of aliases ( or macros as in C ) knows that, 
and knows it's their hide if they are not careful.   Anyway 'eval alias' 
is the exact and intuitive answer to my original, and it's cool that we 
can have it either way.