Re: [boost] [Filesystem V3] Filesystem Version 3 beta 1 available for download and comment

Subject: Re: [boost] [Filesystem V3] Filesystem Version 3 beta 1 available for download and comment
From: John Bytheway (jbytheway+boost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-02-19 05:06:45

Beman Dawes wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 10:35 AM, Stewart, Robert 
> <Robert.Stewart_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>> You state that extension() returns the period to allow
>> distinguishing between an empty extension and no extension.  That
>> seems wrong.  Typical use cases for working with the extension will
>> require stripping the period before proceeding, so you push extra
>> work onto the client.  Furthermore, I can't think of a case in
>> which extension processing code would work differently when there
>> is no extension and when the extension is empty.  The extension is
>> an empty string in both cases.  Since you already provide
>> has_extension() for distinguishing that there is one, extension()
>> should return an empty string when nothing follows the period.
> 
> IIRC, that was Volodya's original design and I can't recall anyone 
> ever complaining about it. True, we didn't have the has_extension() 
> function, but still, I hate to break existing code. Does anyone else 
> have a strong opinion?

FWIW, the GNU Make function 'suffix' also sets a precedent of including
the '.'

http://uw714doc.sco.com/cgi-bin/info2html?%28make.info%29File%2520Name%2520Functions&lang=en

On the rare occasions I've had cause to use it this has seemed natural.

John Bytheway