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

[Brian Tiffin]

On 9/12/13, Joe Robbins <address@hidden> wrote:
> 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.
>

Not sure Joe.  But I found the entry below in the libcob/ChangeLog.
Not much of a hint as to the rationale, but it does look like a design
intent.

2009-05-25  Roger While <address@hidden>

        * General : Remove the following extraneous include files:
       byteswap.h, call.h, fileio.h, intrinsic.h, move.h, numeric.h,
       screenio.h, strings.h, termio.h by integration into common.h
       as first step

I didn't find any comments on what step 2 was supposed to be at the time.

I'm not sure how to best fix this for the CE cuts, but I'd be ok with
a split back to 'extraneous' headers, with the caveat that I'll always
defer to Simon for decisions on these commits.

Cheers,
Brian

>
>
> Regards:    Joe Robbins