Re: [TCLCORE] New tip #722

[Donald G P. <don...@ni...>]

On 5/19/25 11:10, Christian Werner wrote:
> On 5/19/25 14:31, Christian Werner wrote:
>> On 05/19/2025 01:58 PM, Donald G Porter via Tcl-Core wrote:
>>
>>> Revising the behavior of an existing subcommand raises worries ( at
>>> least )
>>> about compatibility.
>>>
>>> Consider proposing a new subcommand instead.
>>
>> So "package names -present", i.e. a switch to an existing subcommand
>> isn't a nogo, too?
>> But from the natural language standpoint "package present" seemed the
>> most logical to me.
>> Then dear native speakers please find a good alternative for me.
>
> Massimo Manghi gave me his proposal "package names -loaded" which IMO is
> a very good choice as it smoothly fits into the current implementation of
> "package names". So the "-loaded" option simply modifies the if-condition
> whose block appends to the result list. Streamlined.

The existing command is [package names] with no arguments accepted.

What do you think of adding two optional argument values:

[package names provided] -- return names of packages provided in the current interp.

[package names available] -- return names of packages where some "ifneeded" script has been found.

and

[package names] -- continue to return the union of the lists described above.

This reuses the "provide" verbiage already part of [package], and avoids confusion
with the "-loaded" term that better belongs with [load], etc.

-- 
| Don Porter            Applied and Computational Mathematics Division |
| don...@ni...             Information Technology Laboratory |
| http://math.nist.gov/~DPorter/                                  NIST |
|______________________________________________________________________|