Fwd: [WWdevel] Macro library search path

[Davide P.C. <dp...@un...>]

> To expand on it I think something similar will need to be done for the 
> "alias" subroutine -- give it a list of places to find images, applets 
> and so forth.  The alias subroutine is a bit of a mess -- it hasn't 
> been looked at in quite a long time.

Yes, it is in need of updating.  When I wrote my problems that use 
LiveGraphics3D for interactive 3D surfaces, I had to make the data 
files end in .html so that alias would handle them.  There really needs 
to be a way to extend alias to handle additional types in a systematic 
way.

>> I would also like to suggest that loadMacros be able to access 
>> subdirectories of the macro directory (not by searching them 
>> automatically, but by making explicit references to them).  For 
>> example, there are several macro files that defined various Parser 
>> contents, and it would be nice to have a "context" subdirectory of 
>> the macros directory and then use
>>
>> 	loadMacros("context/LimitedVector.pl");
>>
> We should add something like this.  Would using double colons be 
> better -- following the perl Module convention?
> 	loadMacros("context::LimitedVector.pl");

I think this is likely to cause confusion.  Most of the problem writers 
will not be working with perl at the package level, so will not know 
the :: syntax.  Also, I suspect that these macro files will not be 
creating package of their own, and that might cause confusion.  Loading 
something called "context::LimitedVector.pl" would suggest that there 
will be a "context::LimitedVector" package available after the load, 
and that may not be the case.

These really are file references, and I think problem authors will 
think of them that way, so "context/LimitedVector.pl" is probably the 
right format for this.

Davide