No header files?

[BCS]

Hello aJ,

> "BCS" <none at anon.com> wrote in message
> news:a6268ffbae78cc207990f9b394 at news.digitalmars.com...
> 
>> I'm not sure what use you are seeing for them.
>> 
> The 2 that I gave were:
> 
> 1. Serves as a "blueprint" (or skeleton) for further development.

.d files can do this

> 2. Serves as "documentation" for usage or for
> evaluation-for-purpose
> (suitability).

I will hold that the full source or "webpage like" documentation will do 
better in all cases than a header file. The first for where the details matter 
and the second for all other cases because it can contain anything the header 
can and is not bound by language constraints.

> (1) is "working at a higher level (designing vs. implenting) and
> perhaps even separating much of the design work from the
> implementation work (i.e., separate individuals or teams working on
> one or the other). (2) eliminates the need for secondary documentation
> (for well-designed code). I think of secondary documentation as the
> detailed description of how something works. Prior to consulting such,
> I'd want to know "what" something is, and something like a class
> declaration gives me that information immediately, without reading
> paragraphs of text. For example, you can describe "car" to me, but it
> would be much easier to just show me one.
> 

As said above, you can declare a class without implementing it in the current 
system as well as progamaticly extract what you are asking for in whatever 
format you want.

>> As far as documentation goes, In the cases where I don't care about
>> the implementation, I'd rather see some kind of extracted, generated
>> documentation rather than a header file.
>> 
> Class Shape
> {
> void Draw();
> }
> What more do you need to know usually?
> 

Some times I'd like some comments/verbiage. Some times I'd like exactly that 
but with better formatting.

The point is that if you want to start by coding that up, you can with the 
current system. If you have a full program and you want that, you can generate 
it from the full program with the current system.

I have yet to see anything you have asked for that the current system can't 
give you. It just doesn't give it to you in exactly the same way C does.