Re: [dieter@duenenhof-wilhelm.de: image-dired (tumme) database file not existing]

[tomas@tuxteam.de]

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On Thu, Jul 19, 2007 at 05:37:10PM +0200, Thien-Thi Nguyen wrote:
> () "Mathias Dahl" <mathias.dahl@gmail.com>
> () Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:03:09 +0200
> 
>    Instead of making each function make sure a db file exist, why not
>    change code like this:
> 
>    (find-file image-dired-db-file)
> 
>    into this:
> 
>    (find-file (image-dired-db-file))
> 
>    And inside that new defun basically do what you did in your new function.
> 
> well, i considered that, too, but decided against it due to the
> following reasoning (somewhat muddied by the summer heat):
[...]
> of course, one could argue lots of file-exists-p calls are no big
> deal, but i would not be that one.  (half-informed philosophical
> mumbling follows) what we see here is the basic tension between
> functional programming and the real world (external) state...
> change happens but is it the root or the leaves that must react?

Ah, philosophy, let's jump in ;-)

One aspect that IMHO deserves mention is that Mathias' approach is more
change-friendly. If a third, not-so-knowledgeable hacker (e.g. me) tries
to fix something, (s)he is less probable to screw things up.

Regards
- -- tomás
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