From: Lloyd Zusman <ljz@...>
Date: 2002-08-10T04:40:31+09:00
Subject: Re: Getting the file name from a File::Stat object?

GOTO Kentaro <gotoken@notwork.org> writes:

> At Sat, 10 Aug 2002 03:56:48 +0900,
> Lloyd Zusman wrote:
>> I want to use that name in order to implement a "File::Stat#textfile?" 
>> method that returns true if the item in question is a file which
>> contains non-binary data.  In order to implement the "textfile?" method,
>> I have to have a filename that I can pass to an "open" method call,
>> as follows:
>
> I see.  But why not File#textfile?.  For normal files, you can
> implement File#textfile? straightforwardly. 
>
> [ ... etc. ... ]

Yes, I could indeed do it that way, but the "File::Stat#textfile?" method
seems similar to the "File::Stat#file?" method, and to me, it seems
more logical for that method to belong within the File::Stat class.

After all, it's only a Unix-specific implementation detail that requires
us to open the file and read a block of data in order to determine
whether we have a text file.  There might be other operating systems
that supply that information in a different manner.  The
"File::Stat#textfile?" method would then not need to do an "open" or a
"read" under that OS.

Therefore, to me, the "textfile?" method seems to just be returning an
attribute of a file, just like "size", "blksize", "ino", "dev", and
other information that File::Stat returns.

But I guess that this is a matter of personal taste.

-- 
 Lloyd Zusman
 ljz@asfast.com