From: khaines@...
Date: 2006-09-02T23:37:15+09:00
Subject: Re: Best practice? libs and modules

On Sat, 2 Sep 2006, Trans wrote:

>> So, for example, I have added some things to String and Hash, but don't
>> want to either force my users to use my extensions, or interfere with my
>> users ability to use their own extensions.  So, any place where I am going
>> to need one of those extensions, I work with Iowa::String or Iowa::Hash
>> instead of String and Hash.  It's a little more typing for me, but better
>> for my users.
>
> There's a downside to this though. To take advantage of those
> extensions your uses have to use these special subclasses too. As long
> as your not changing the behavior of a built-in you're generally okay.

No, it really doesn't matter if I am changing the behavior of a built in 
or not (which I'm not).

If I just opened String and put my extensions into there, I'd run the 
substantial risk that someone might use a core extension from 
Rails' ActiveSupport or Facets that conflicts.  And even if there are no 
conflicts today, tomorrow there might be.

Or if I just used LRUCache instead of Iowa::Caches::LRUCache, and someone 
decided to use the Facets LRUCache in an app, it would cause bad things to 
happen (I like the Facets LRUCache's simplicity; I hate that it requires 
extending anything that is to be stored in it, BTW).

So yes, if one of my users wants to take advantage of something I have 
in one of the extensions, they have to type a few more characters to 
create the object.  I am quite willing to sacrafice a few characters for 
the relative security against namespace collisions, though.  The cost is 
very small, and the benefit is large.


Kirk Haines