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Re: Parser/Backend API proposals

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From:
Dave Rolsky
Date:
January 17, 2003 22:21
Subject:
Re: Parser/Backend API proposals
Message ID:
Pine.LNX.4.51.0301180018280.24035@urth.org
On Fri, 17 Jan 2003, John Peacock wrote:

> That's where we part ways, then.  I would rather see the contructor DWIM if
> handed a string.  I suppose I can write a class which does, in fact, wrap the
> parsing and object creation into a single call, say DateTime::Parse.

Just to clarify, I don't object to the idea of constructing objects from
whatever set of params you want.  I do object to having it all done by one
method!  So if you had "DateTime->from_string" that's fine.  The main
reason for this is allowing multiple sets of unrelated parmeters to a
single method makes validating input _really_ painful, and users can get
confused and give you parameters from multiple sets.  It's a mess.

If you take a look at the CVS code, you'll see that the DateTime new()
constructor is now very simple.  There's also a from_epoch()
constructor, and a now() constructor (which calls from_epoch).  Nice and
orderly.

> Have you decided to require all components to be defined in order to be
> well-formed?  In other words, if I only care about dates, can I undef all of the
> time related components and have the right thing happen?  At this point, I am
> not arguing one way or another; I can see both being useful.  Obviously, if I
> request an output that contains time fields, the undef would need to be rendered
> as 0's, but the information that certain fields were not specifically
> initialized can be useful.

Time defaults to midnight if not given.

> That *is* what I am thinking as well.  I'm not arguing _that_ point, just
> whether the parsing also needs to be an object.  I view the parsing more as a
> filter than anything else; get the messy realworld data into a standard form so
> I can do something useful with it.

I think we agree and arguing over a _very_ tiny API issue ;)


-dave

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