[clean-list] Comments on the module system

[Marco Kesseler]

Hi Brian,

>     One of the things that's (sorely, IMO) missing from the Clean module
>system is qualified names, where you refer to the identifiers in a module 
>using ModuleName.identifier or some equivalent syntax. 
>
>     Another issue that I've mentioned is the lack of hierarchy. Even
>rather pathetic (compared to Clean) languages like Java have hierarchical 
>namespaces and I think it's a good idea. 

In principle I agree that it is a good idea to have namespaces of 
some sort,
but I seriously doubt whether namespaces should be related to module 
names
and module hierarchy. This will lead to trouble when one starts 
rearanging modules.

I would rather have namespaces explicitly declared, so that one can
design a logical hierarchy independently of the modules.

>     In Clean 2, we don't need to repeat macro, type and class definitions 
>from the defition module in the implementation module, which is
>nice. However, we still need to have an empty .icl if it is needed. It's a 
>petty complaint, but it would be nice if we could omit it.

I agree.

>    Any other ideas? 

I am working on an html version of a wish list. This will 'soon' be 
in some
digestable state, 'soon' being determined by my spare time in the 
evenings.

Marco