Re: [MacPerl] "Epoch-making difference"--time()

[schinder@pjstoaster.pg.md.us (Paul Schinder)]

forrest d whitcher <fw@world.std.com> writes:
} 
} > Everytime I have to check for system-specific stuff (like '/' vs ':')
} 
} Hmm, perl for os/2 (actually the gcc / emx posix compiler that lives
} under it) supports / in place of the '\' brain-dead DOS delimiter (Which
} btw, I've read, Paul Allen takes credit for)
} 
} I suppose it'd be harder to map Mac :'s, the semantics of translation
} seem more complex. Nice to have if Matthias could support.

It would be a terrible idea, since / is a perfectly valid character in a
Mac filename.  You'd have to try to guess when the user meant / as part
of the filename and / as a directory separator.  There's simply no good
way to do that.  I don't know about DOS (thank God!), but maybe / isn't
legal in filenames there.

What would be nicer is if Config.pm lost a lot of its Unixcentrism and
contained some actually useful stuff for the local configuration.  For
example, whether or not the file system is hierarchal (VM/CMS Perl?
Does it exist?), whether the paths are simple (a la Unix, Mac, and DOS)
or more complex (VMS), what character begins a relative path, what
character begins an absolute path, etc., etc.  Maybe even some simple
routines that can construct legal paths out of lists, extract the filename
 from a legal full path, etc.  *That* would be useful for everyone, and
would make writing portable Perl much easier.

} 
} -----
} Forrest Whitcher                   fw@world.std.com
} Boston Scientific Corp.            Senior Engineer 
} 480 Pleasant St.                   Watertown MA 02172 
} 617.972.4289                       http://world.std.com/~fw
} 
---
--------
Paul J. Schinder
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,
Code 693, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
schinder@pjstoaster.pg.md.us