Re: [MacPerl] Using UNIX style filenames with MacPerl

[Matthew Langford <langfml [at] eng [dot] auburn [dot] edu>]

On Wed, 13 May 1998, Paul J. Schinder wrote:

> } Would it be possible to "teach" MacPerl to directly support the
> } UNIX-style file and pathnames when accessing files.
> 
> No.  It would be a terrible idea.  Suppose I had a folder named "5/13/98",
> or one named "..".  What would you want MacPerl to do in this case?

How many people have folders named ".." or "."?  If a special case is
_that_ infrequent, even the most egregious kludge is supportable. 
Translate it internally to some name like "forbidden_dotdot".  And what if
someone already has a folder named "forbidden_dotdot"?  Then they've
voided the MacPerl warranty, and must face the wrath of the gods.

If one has set the "I want to use Unix-style pathnames" switch, internally
convert Mac folders with embedded /'s to :'s, or some other suitable
character (a "plus" sign? an underscore? a dash? an em-dash? an en-dash?
the choice is left as an exercise for the reader).  

Or (less desireable) don't support it at all--in other words,
barf/carp/die if a Mac folder containing "/" or leading dots is found. 
After all, if I've told MacPerl I want to use Unix style pathnames, I'm
not likely to violate Unix conventions in the folders I run it on.  If I'm
only worried about running it on Macs, I won't throw the
"wanna-use-Unix-paths" switch.  If I want to run it on both, I'll have to
code up a translator myself--which strikes me as false hubris.  Better to
have it done once, and widely tested.



--
MattLangford 


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