[Bro-Dev] .'s vs. /'s (Re: script loading changes)
Gilbert Clark
gc355804 at ohio.edu
Wed Jul 13 17:28:12 PDT 2011
On 7/13/2011 5:20 PM, Jonathan Siwek wrote:
>> ? What's so cool about using '.'s instead of '/'s that it's worth
>> conflicting with the user's file-system mental model?
I'm honestly not too sure how the new scripting stuff works, exactly, so
forgive my ignorance. I'm also not a language design guy.
That being said, I disagree that the file-system mental model should be
applied to a scripting language that uses packages / modules. The idea
is that a package is meant to abstract away certain path details that
are inherent to things like #include; instead of worrying about files,
you worry about code constructs.
For example, bro.http.headers may not exist as a file on its own;
instead, bro.http.headers may exist in "./bro/http/extensions.bro" As
such, I see a huge difference between @load a/bro/module and @load
a.bro.module: one loads a file, and the other loads a construct. As it
happens, if code is written well, there's a lot of overlap there. . .
but there's still a big conceptual difference.
I think I'd tentatively argue that, if '.' and '/' are completely
interchangeable (and *must* remain that way), bro scripts haven't yet
gotten to the point where they should worry about using '.' to load
stuff. If anything, I think folks trying to learn bro script with
python / java / etc. experience could find the syntax deceptive: "I
don't think that . means what you think it means."
Just my $0.02, though.
--Gilbert
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