Heirarchical name space allocation

[Graham Klyne]

At 10:19 30/03/04 +0100, Simon Marlow wrote:
>
> > Who's in charge of allocating names in the hierarchical
> > modules for publicly released libraries these days?
> >
> > This page lists (some) allocated names..
> >   http://www.haskell.org/~simonmar/libraries/layout.html
> >
> > But I can think of a few that aren't listed there.
> > What's the policy?
> > Is there a master reference or register somewhere?
>
>At one stage we thought that having a single global registry for names
>was the way to go.  Now I think that a free-for-all, with good package
>management tools, is probably better.
>
>Names and hierarchy locations will still be discussed on this list, but
>anyone is free to publish a library using any names in the hierarchy
>they please.  If there is overlap, then the compiler should prevent you
>from using two overlapping packages at the same time.  In fact, there's
>one good reason for allowing overlap: versioning of libraries.
>
>Of course, if your library uses names that are consistent with the
>general policy, then there's a greater chance that your library will be
>included in future "collections" of libraries, bundled with compilers,
>and so on.  The idea is that community self-organisation replaces strict
>central registration of library names.  I think this is an improvement,
>but perhaps it's a cop out.  What do others think?

I like it.  It might be appropriate for designers to document module names 
they use in the wiki?

#g
--

PS:  the "provisional registry" of "Registration procedures for message 
header fields" [1] is almost a similar free-for-all.  The general idea is 
to give developers a pretty free hand in choosing names, but provide a 
common listing for the purposes of coordinating activities.

[1] http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-klyne-msghdr-registry-07.txt



------------
Graham Klyne
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