Re: [MacPerl] Using ' instead of :: as the package separator

[Ken Williams <ken@forum.swarthmore.edu>]

pudge@pobox.com (Chris Nandor) wrote:
>At 20.30 -0600 2000.02.28, Ken Williams wrote:
>>>Needless historic relic from Perl4. StandardFile.pl is depricated in
>>>favor of Mac::StandardFile, Mac::Files, and Mac::MoreFiles. In this
>>>instance, the writer knows about StandardFile.pl, but is either unaware
>>>of Mac::StandardFile, Mac::Files, and Mac::MoreFiles, or is either
>>>untutored in their use or afraid to delve into it (due to the repeated
>>>mantra posted at the bottom of all the toolbox modules (don't laugh, this
>>>DOES frighten some people off!)).
>>
>>You mean the stuff at the top?  Absolutely, it scared the shit out of
>>me.  Why do we need the "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" text?  Couldn't we just
>>warn people? Without trying to actually *scare* them?
>
>These modules can be dangerous.  People SHOULD be scared to the point
>where, at least, they won't experiment too much without thinking things
>through first.
>
>>I found it rather elitist too, actually.
>
>I don't see this at all.  How?

I guess it's kind of a leap on my part to make such a claim, but that's kind of
how I feel upon reading it.  When I see text that seems designed to scare me
about running the functions in a module, and I think about all the mythology
out there (some of it deserved) about how Mac programming is so darn hard, I
can't help but feel like there's some club of Mac programmers that I don't
belong to.  Perhaps elitism is the wrong word, but I get some vibe like it
whenever I think about trying to use the toolbox modules.

I certainly don't mean to suggest that elitism is a trait of any of the
*people* responsible for MacPerl, or any people on the list.  Quite to the
contrary in my experience; it's a really nice community.  In that sense, I see
it as a disconnect.

>>There are hardly any docs distributed
>>with the modules,
>
>Well, not many have stepped forward to do the documentation.  Are you
>volunteering?  :)

I wish I could, but I've got a lot of reading to do before I understand
anything well enough.  Then again, mod_perl junkies on this list (anyone?)
might remember that Stas Beckman started the mod_perl guide partly as a way to
learn how the details of mod_perl work, and now he's a wunderprogrammer and the
guide is absolutely fantastic.  Perhaps this summer when I have time (I'm
teaching now) I could volunteer for something like this.

>Macintosh is the bulk of the documentation.  You need to understand the
>MacPerl interface to the toolbox -- which is documented, mostly, in MPPE
>and in Toolbox.pod -- and then figure out how the functions work from IM.

I think I understand that point of view, but at the same time there's really
not much to go on in terms of Perl examples of the functions in the Perl
modules.  Maybe everything seems obvious after you've used it for a while, but
it doesn't seem obvious before that.  It wouldn't take much - StandardFile.pm
only has 5 functions, and a usage example for each would be nice.

>I don't think it is elitist.  I think that Matthias basically saw the real
>danger in using these toolbox modules, and would rather warn people about
>using them rather than fend off the flames of people who corrupted their
>system and lost a week's worth of work.

I can't argue with that, I guess.  



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