Re: [PATCH] string_list API: document what "sorted" means.

On 09/18/2012 07:21 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Michael Haggerty [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

If another sort order is needed, then we will either have to audit
existing string_list users to make sure that they don't rely on strcmp()
ordering, or we will have to implement strcmp() ordering *plus* the new
ordering.

What I was envisioning was to pass in an optional custom comparison
when you instantiate a string_list object.  Existing callers that
rely on (or can live with, because they do not care about the exact
order) the default order will continue to use the byte-value ordering,
so there is no need for auditing.  Only the new callers that want
different ordering would set custom comparison routine.

But now I wrote it down, I realize that there is no _harm_ in
documenting "we sort in byte-value order, so expect iterations on
sorted string list to give them in that order to you" at all.

So let's go with your documentation patch as-is.

quoted

It's not that I'm unwilling to implement 2; it's just that I still don't
see any advantage to doing so before there is a demonstrated need for it.

As I said, I have this suspicion that the lack of demonstrated need
is largely because the existing code that do _not_ use string-list
don't do so because the interface is limited, so the argument is
sort of self-fulfilling.

I've been looking for places in the code where string_list can be used,
so hopefully I'll get a feeling for what new functionality will increase
its applicability.

Now that my string_list enhancements are in master, I will start
trickling in patches to convert other code to using string_list when it
seems to benefit code length and/or understandability.

Michael

-- 
Michael Haggerty
mhagger@alum.mit.edu
http://softwareswirl.blogspot.com/