This RFC is concerned mainly with what to name my modules so that they fit
into the appropriate name-spaces. Any help is appreciated. Also, when
one has a set of related modules, should I have a separate RFC letter for
each, or one for all?
On Thu, 28 Dec 2000, Gunther Birznieks wrote:
> You should be careful as to what modules you've created solve a problem in
> a particular way that you enjoy using and which ones are truly
> generic. Some of the following was unclear in your email explanation of
> the modules.
I was trying to be brief with my email without bogging down in details;
those were in the ReadMe and POD.
To my knowledge, all of my modules are
unique; some have functionality that nothing else on CPAN that I could
find have, and those with common functionality are implemented differently
and/or have different interfaces, making them more useful in some cases.
In the latter case, I made these because I enjoy them better than the
alternatives, and I made them as "flexible" as possible while filling that
role for the express purpose of being useful to more people than myself.
Likewise, I try to make them as independant from each other as possible,
so if you want to use one but not another, it is easier to do so.
> I am worried that some of your CGI::* modules have taken a hold of a
> generic namespace when they should belong either somewhere else in CPAN or
> under CGI::WPM.
>
> you are relying on be under a totally different tree? And also what are you
> using CGI::SequentialFile for? It's a bit unclear as to the relationship there.
These are very valid concerns. And in fact I would like to have different
names for the CGI::* modules, but my previous questions to the modules
list were unanswered.
I put them in CGI:: for now because the
higher-level modules that made use of them are web/cgi related. In fact,
HashOfArrays is a semi-generic data structure, SequentialFile and
EventCountFile are semi-generic file interfaces. WebUserIO is
specifically for the web, however, although I question calling it "CGI"
because it also works under mod_perl (but CGI first).
Now, the CGI::WPM::Globals and CGI::WPM::Base are the cornerstones of a
specific methodology that makes embeddable modules out of web
applications. All of the other CGI::WPM::* modules are examples of
applets that use the methodology. Whereas, everything outside of
CGI::WPM:: is not tied to this methodology and can be used in very
different ways; that is why they were kept out of CGI::WPM::
(Incidentally, Globals inherits from CGI::WebUserIO and HTML::PageMaker,
so their functionality is part of its functionality.)
> Of course, I should be one to talk... I've never uploaded anything to CPAN
> yet (although I've got an ID now... ). Congrats on taking that step forward. :)
Thank you,
// Darren Duncan
