Re: [Ocaml-lib-devel] Filename and file manipulation

[Nicolas C. <war...@fr...>]

> Sometimes ago we were discussing about a possible library manipulation
> filename and files.
>
> I have almost created it. I think it is pretty stable but i need
> extended testing on different filename, and an expert eye on my code.
>
> You can find documentation and tarball here :
> http://www.gallu.homelinux.org/~gildor/ocaml-fileutils/

Hello,

I had a look at SysPath. My first thoughs were that it's too much complex.
It seems that in order to have multi OS library, you used several language
features such as Functors , as well as a lexer plus a yacc parser for each
system in order to parsing the paths. IMHO it's too heavyweight and the
small differences ( drive letter and / against \ ) in path representation
between systems should be handled with a maximal transparency.

Using functors to abstract something is nice if you're expecting the future
users of your library to have the will to extend it further. I don't think
it applies to this problem, since we already know well the 3-4 differents
systems ( Unix , MacOS, Windows, Cygwin-? ) and there is an almost-zero
probability that another system using a different path representation will
be added to this list in the future...

Using a lexer and a yacc parser for parsing such easy things as paths is
also - still IMHO - using a hammer to kick a mosquito. A simple custom
lexer/parser such as the one I proposed in my original post should be enough
and perhaps provide even better speed.
In order to be KISS-compliant, I advise you to rewrote the whole SysPath
using only one file and module.

SysUtil looks very good, I have no complaints about it :)

Regards,
Nicolas Cannasse