Why version() ?

[Sean Kelly]

== Quote from Walter Bright (newshound1 at digitalmars.com)'s article
...
> Let's take an example, like the enum for O_XXXX in std.c.linux.linux.
> Some of those values are common between platforms, and some are unique
> to particular platforms. So you might be tempted to write:
[snip]
> The first version is definitely shorter. But is it easier to maintain? I
> argue that it is *harder* and *buggier* to maintain.

This is definitely true of header modules.  There's absolutely no way I could
manage the Posix headers in Tango/druntime with the non-duplicating
approach.

> This would be even better if the OSX and linux declarations were split
> into separate "personality" modules. That way you can develop happily on
> OSX without fear of accidentally breaking linux support. You can defer
> dealing with the linux version until you actually on the linux machine
> and are in an efficient position to take care of it.

With version blocks, working with one version shouldn't break another
version anyway, unless I'm misunderstanding your point.


Sean