Re: Module versioning

Martin von Loewis (martin@mira.isdn.cs.tu-berlin.de)
Sat, 20 Dec 1997 18:47:18 +0100

> But wouldn't it be sufficient to know if the interface of a function
> you are calling has changed? I know that won't help with data
> structures, but wouldn't it be safer to disallow direct access of them
> at all. Like only using methods to access data when using an OO
> language. What would the mean in terms of speed and code?

The speed would be very bad if you make it safe. For example, you cannot
use inline functions, as the inlining would be in the module. So if the
structure changes, the module still uses the old access function.

For the code, it would be even worse. About everything would have to be
rewritten.

Regards,
Martin