Name-space collision

[James McQueston]

In article <9101110004.aa25179 at WOLF.BRL.MIL>, butler at BRL.MIL ("Lee A. Butler") writes:
> ...
> was appalled (sp?) at the namespace collisions with libgl.  Why couldn't SGI
> have put some standard prefix like "gl_" on the front of all their routines?
> ... 

I naively thought that SGI was going to address this issue way back
when the gl's select(3) functiion collided with the unix select(2) function.
Instead, they just changed gl's select() to gselect(), sidestepping the
larger issue.

> ...
> Changing to this shouldn't cause much impact, as there could be an OPTIONAL
> include file that performed name mapping between the gl_function names and
> the old style function names.
> ...

I am compelled to second this motion whole-heartedly.  Name space collisions
are one of the most difficult problems to overcome when one attempts
software component re-use on almost any scale.  We have been bitten several
times.  Please, SGI, heed Mr. Butler's advice.  You too, IBM.

> Lee A. Butler
> Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5066
> Ballistic Research Laboratory			   Phone: (301) 278-9200
> SLCBR-VL-V					Internet: butler at brl.mil

James H. McQueston (outgoing mailer lies: reply to contex!james at uunet.uu.net)