[ooc-compiler] Suggestion: Procedure renaming in interface modules

[Stewart G. <sgr...@ip...>]

Hi Folks,

I think it would be useful to be able to rename procedures in INTERFACE 
modules. C has a flat namespace, so C libraries often have procedure names
with convoluted prefixes.

Basically, the idea would be to optionally map a procedure name in an
interface module to a different name which would be used when generating the
call to that procedure.

For example, the current GSL.Mod has:

  PROCEDURE gsl_sf_bessel_J0* (x : LONGREAL) : LONGREAL;

So to call this, I have to do:

  IMPORT GSL;
  ...
  GSL.gsl_sf_bessel_J0(arg)

If this were declared in an interface module GSL:SF:Bessel.Mod, it would
look like this:

  PROCEDURE J0* [ "gsl_sf_bessel_J0" ] (x : LONGREAL) : LONGREAL;

So I can then do:

  IMPORT GSL:SF:Bessel;
  ...
  Bessel.J0(arg)

The compiler knows that J0 is an alias for gsl_sf_bessel_J0, so it generates
a call to the actual procedure, and not a procedure named J0.

Component Pascal has a feature like this.

I can't remember off-hand what system flags currently apply to procedures in
interface modules, so the syntax might have to be slightly different. 

Cheers,
  Stewart