Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!gatech!purdue!decwrl!hplabs!hpda!hpcuhb!hpcllla!hpclisp!hpcllmr!mark
From: mark@hpcllmr.HP.COM (Mark Rozhin)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: Modules and separate compilation
Message-ID: <950019@hpcllmr.HP.COM>
Date: 3 Feb 89 20:58:08 GMT
References: <2123@elxsi.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Calif. Language Lab
Lines: 23

hp pascal handles it the following way:

   when a module is compiled, it's interface (export part) is written
   somewhere. by default, it is written to a special spot in the object
   file. optionally, it can be written to a 'module library'. we don't
   much like this second mechanism, cause now you have two files to
   worry about instead of one.

   when importing, the user can tell the compiler where to look for the
   module interface stuff (either an object or archive (come to think
   of it, an executable library should work too), or a module library).
   if the stuff is not found there, the compiler looks in a standard
   place for module stuff. (i've forgotten where it is.)

the drawback of the whole thing is that you encode information about
where to find module interfaces right in the source. what if you move
source? what if you have a big piece of software and you swap versions
of different module?

an environment sounds nice. modules just float about in some hyperspace
and the compiler & development system suck them out.

m