[open-cobol-list] OpenCOBOL-ce-1.1 : repackaging libcob/common.h

[Joe Robbins]

Hello OC Developers

 

I am working on applying our edits back into opencobol-ce-1.1 prior to to placing them with the community.

 

I have noticed that in the CE version (as opposed to the previous public download) many of the header (.h) files have been consolidated into a single libcob/common.h. So no more: termio.h, fileio.h, etc.

 

Can someone please confirm that it is the group's  intention to "stick with" this pattern?

 

Better still, can anybody explain the reason for the change? Personally, I think it is a retrogressive move. Isn't it better for each "unit" (termio, fileio, etc) to have an associated header file (termio.h, fileio.h, etc) that exposes the public interface of the code unit (termio.c, fileio.c, etc)? The CE version has crammed all these header files into a single file of 1242 lines. I cannot see why placing "#include fileio.h" into common.h isn't a better strategy. Doesn't this change ignore principles of constructing well structured software?

 

One consequence is that instead of my new fileio.h file slipping into the release, we now have to find each declaration in common.h that was previously in fileio.h and manually replace it.  It is time consuming work that wasn't previously necessary. This is going to be a BIG PAIN for future development: because each header file is no longer specific to the unit to which it belongs, each developer working on pretty much self-contained modules will now have to merge their declarations with everybody else's declarations in common.h.

 

I am greatly interested in the rationale behind making a jumbo, rag-bag libcob/common.h.

 

Regards:    Joe Robbins