[m-rev.] for review: improvements for library/ops.m

[Fergus Henderson]

On 04-Nov-2001, Simon Taylor <stayl at cs.mu.OZ.AU> wrote:
> 
> NEWS:
> library/ops.m:
> 	Remove the undocumented `export_*', `import_*' and `use_*'
> 	module system operators, which aren't likely to be
> 	implemented any time soon, and which can cause syntax
> 	errors if anyone accidentally uses them.

Fine.

> 	Improve the documentation.

Good!  Thanks.

> 	Move some items which are really just implementation
> 	details to a less prominent position in the interface.

This bit I'm not quite so happy with.

Firstly, I don't consider those items to be implementation details.

Secondly, the change has been applied inconsistently; why move
the definition of `ops__class', but not move the definition of
`ops__specifier'?  These two types are very closely related --
they are just two different ways of representing the same
information -- so the definitions of these two types should
definitely remain together.

If you want to order it differently, the module's interface could be
divided into three sections:
	- one for the stuff about the different kinds of operators
	  (ops__specifier, ops__class, ops__assoc, and
	  ops__op_specifier_to_class).
	- one for the stuff about operator priorities
	  (the ops__priority type and the ops__max_priority predicate --
	  which, incidentally, ought to be a function now...)
	- one for the operator table and related procedures
(not necessarily in that order).

-- 
Fergus Henderson <fjh at cs.mu.oz.au>  | "... it seems to me that 15 years of
The University of Melbourne         | email is plenty for one lifetime."
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>  |     -- Prof. Donald E. Knuth
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