[Python-Dev] Path PEP: some comments

["Martin v. Löwis"]

Phillip J. Eby wrote:
>>- ctime() is documented to be unportable: it has different semantics on UNIX
>>and Windows. I believe the class should abstract from these details.
> 
> 
> Note that this is the opposite of normal Python policy: Python does not 
> attempt to create cross-platform abstractions, but instead chooses to 
> expose platform differences.  The Path class shouldn't abstract this any 
> more than the original *path modules do.

I think this is partially due to a misunderstanding, both by Microsoft,
and in Python. There is a long-time myth that ctime denotes "creation
time", as this is really in-line with mtime and atime.

I think the path module should provide these under a different name:
creation_time and status_change_time. Either of these might be absent.
ctime should be provided to report whatever ctime used to report in
the past (i.e. creation_time on Windows, status_change_time on Unix).

Regards,
Martin