System.FilePath propsal (Was: Cabal feedback notes)

[Andrew Pimlott]

On Tue, Oct 26, 2004 at 11:43:40AM -0700, Krasimir Angelov wrote:
> --- Andrew Pimlott <andrew at pimlott.net> wrote:
> > You don't seem to address the problem of volumes or
> > drives (a:, c:).  I don't think you can punt this.
> 
> The drives are handled implicitly. They are always
> part of directory name.

Well, for example you couldn't write a file picker with this API,
because you can't ask for all the roots.  Maybe that's enough, because
pathInits can be used to find the root for a given file (the first
element of pathInits being the root).

> > Be very explicit in the documentation about what 
> > your model of a path is. Most libraries implictly 
> > rely upon some form of unix conventions, without 
> > pinning them down.  I find it hard to use File::Spec
> > without trial and error.
> 
> The Haddock documentation can be improved.

This isn't mostly about the documentation, it's about having a model in
mind when you design the library.  What's your model of a path?  For
example, what should splitFileName "/" (unix) or splitFileName "." be,
and why?  I can't think of any answers that are consistent with the type
(FilePath -> (String, String)).

Andrew