path module

[Hallvard B Furuseth (nospam nospam)]

If there is going to be a New Wonderful Path module, I suggest you give
some thought to paths on systems that don't fit the simple Unix/Windows
path model.  A path to a filename may e.g. looks different from a path
to a directory.  It's a long time since I used anything like that, but I
think Tops-20 filename paths looked like this:

    device:<dir.dir.dir>file.ext;version

where most components were optional.  The device: part could also be a
'logical name' (basically an alias) for a directory or device, I don't
remember if it could alias a file name too.

The Common Lisp pathname type might be worth looking into,
<http://www.iti.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/cl-hyperspec/Body/sec_19-2.html>
They have done a lot of work to try to get it right, and from what
I hear they did a good job.

-- 
Hallvard