From: E S <eero.saynatkari@...>
Date: 2004-12-29T07:19:00+09:00
Subject: Re: Namespaces, inverted

> L�hett�j�: "Robert Klemme" <bob.news@gmx.net>
> "Joel VanderWerf" <vjoel@PATH.Berkeley.EDU> schrieb im Newsbeitrag 
> news:41D0E5EF.1040308@path.berkeley.edu...
> > eero.saynatkari@kolumbus.fi wrote:
> > [Snip]

> > class String
> >  def as mod
> >   {:name => self, :module => mod}
> >  end
> > end
 
> I don't like the idea of the as method as it cannot be used reasonable in 
> other circumstances as module loading.  The code really does not belong into 
> class String IMHO.

Agreed. It just looked better :) I suppose a top-level method 
would have done as nicely for this how-it-can-be-done-now 
implementation.

> We have Kernel#load [1] with a similar functionality already.  Currently it 
> accepts an additional parameter to enforce wrapping of the file in an 
> anonymous module.  That could be extended to accept a module as well; that 
> then would be the module used.  Then we can do
> 
> load "foo.rb" # not wrapped
> load "foo.rb" # wrapped in an anonymous module
> load "foo.rb", MyExternal # wrapped in MyExternal

Good. I had to rely on a 1.6 reference knowledge and didn't 
recall the second parameter. Implementing it this way would, 
certainly, require a change at the core level so an RCR might
be appropriate. I can write it up, I suppose.

I'm still partial to 'import' vs. 'require', though :)

> Additionally / Alternatively it could be useful to have a per module require 
> like this:
> 
> class Module
>   def require(*files)
>     # puts "loading in module #{self}: #{files.inspect}"
>     @loaded ||= {}
>     files.each do |f|
>       unless @loaded[f]
>         # real load code that wraps contents of f in self
>         @loaded[f] = true
>       end
>     end
>   end
> end
> 
> Then we could do
> 
> module Foo
>   require "bar"
> end
> 
> and even if we do the same later again, "bar" is only loaded once (see [2]).

Looks nice, although the functionality is somewhat 
overlapping, no?

> Kind regards
> 
>     robert

E