Interface files was: Re: Python Considered Harmful

[James Logajan]

Eric Lee Green wrote:
> 
> Paul Prescod wrote:
> 
> > Eric Lee Green wrote:
> > > [Python is]... making keeping the design doc and
> > > the implementation in sync a pain in the @%!#....
> >
> > Pythonistsas tend to think that keeping the ".h" and ".c" files in sync
> > is a pain in the @%!#.
> 
> True enough, but it's easy to find out whether they're in sync or not -- just
> type 'make' :-).
> 

And you need to keep your makefile in sync with your .c, .h, and .cpp files
if you want to do incremental compile and links. That can be a pain unless
you add in supplemental tools and compiler flags to handle dependencies.

> 
> I'll take a look at that when I'm not under deadline pressures so much.
> Documentation, BTW, was not my only gripe there -- the whole
> interface/implementation issue lies at the heart of object oriented
> programming.
> 

As far as I can tell, it appears that Java has the same philosophy: no
distinction between interface and implementation. You need additional tools
to extract the interface.