9fans archive / 2000 / 11 / 31 /    prev next

From: nigel@9fs.org
Subject: Re: [9fans] usage of CPU server
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 10:02:54 0000

>> Which bit of the Korn shell models the dependency graph?
> > 
> > 

> A dependancy graph is a tiny subset of what you can construct with -n and
> friends, isn't it?

True, but it doesn't answer my question.  I asked "which bit of the
Korn shell _models_ the dependency graph", not "which bits of the Korn
shell can be assembled to create the same effect as the dependency
graph in make".

I may as well have asked "which bits of the C language model the
dependency graph", at which point your reply would have suggested that
I should write a C program each time I want to assemble a kit of parts
in the right order to create a whole.  Any language in which you can
invoke other commands, test the relative age of files and do some
filename manipulation is, according to your reply, better than make on
the grounds that it is more general.

Now I'm not proposing that make is all we need; it's been superceded.
However, I do suggest that the conciseness of a dependency graph
notation is important.  There is plenty of evidence for this; the
concept has been preserved in subsequent tools, IDEs etc..

So the question is, "which bit of the Korn shell _models_ the
dependency graph?"