[Lcd4linux-devel] Re: Dynamic loading (once more ;)

[Michael R. <re...@eu...>]

Hi Martin, Hi Xavier,

> Ok, maybe I'm missing something obvious here - but if we want to take 
> the easy routem, why can't we simply define that a function name 
> consists of
> plugin_name + delimiter + function_name ?

Ahh...
> 
> If you want to make it look like OOP, you can use "." for a delimiter 
> (but it may screw up the parser, since "." is already used for string 
> concatenation).

Right. A dot would look nice, but will not work. Maybe a ':' ?? (no, 
impossible, because of the a?b:c)

I'm afraid we run out of delimiters :-)

> The user must know which functions exist (and most naturally, that would 
> be documented on a "per plugin" basis, so the user would also know which 
> plugin the function belongs to). Actually, it might even make the 
> config-file more clear (since the plugin-name gives the function a 
> context, so it's easier to understand what's going on). It would 
> probably even solve the "duplicate function name" problem, since we 
> could think of each plugin as a name-space. What I'm thinking about here 
> is this:
> the xmms plugin has a function "filename" (I don't know if it does, but 
> lets assume it does). If you know you're talking about xmms, "filename" 
> makes sense (pobably the name of the file currently being played).
> If someone else is writing a "plugin_printspooler", "filename" might be 
> the name of the file currently being printed. In both cases, it's a 
> filename, but I guess it would be nice to know (simply from looking at 
> the config) which plugin is being used by a statement in the setup.

Martin - that's why I've been waiting for your comments :-)

I really LOVE this idea! It solves all our issues, and is a win-win 
solution!

It gives us the same results as the "global function to plugin mapping", 
but easier to implement (no compile-time work necessary), and allows for 
modules to be used without recompiling all the stuff. It does not 
require a list of modules to be specified in the config file.

Great!

Xavier, what's your opinion?

-- 
Michael Reinelt                                   Tel: +43 676 3079941
Geisslergasse 4                                   Fax: +43 316  692343
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