Re: Separate Compilation in Programming Languages

[Ray Blaak <rAYblaaK@STRIPCAPStelus.net>]

<adaworks@sbcglobal.net> writes:
> > But there is a way to manage explicit dependencies: express the public
> > facing APIs in terms of interfaces with implementation classes that truly
> > hide the actual implementation.
>
> I considered Interfaces.  They appear, at first glance, to be a solution.
> However, they fall short of what we are seeking here.  Once the Interface is
> implemented, the rest of the software still depends on that implementation
> and there is no model of separate compilation at that point where one can
> separate the specification from the implementation.  The dependency becomes
> bound to the implementation of the Interface not to the Interface
> abstraction.

I don't understand what you mean. The rest of the software explicitly does not
depend on that implementation. That is the point of using an interface.

I have made such interface-based APIs, and would tend to build API clients
with only the public API present. The implementation would be loaded at run
time. The client could not ever be effected by implementation changes; it
could not even see the implementation.

-- 
Cheers,                                        The Rhythm is around me,
                                               The Rhythm has control.
Ray Blaak                                      The Rhythm is inside me,
rAYblaaK@STRIPCAPStelus.net                    The Rhythm has my soul.