Re: g_(s)list_data()

[Owen Taylor <otaylor redhat com>]

Eric Lemings <eric b lemings lmco com> writes:

> Joel Becker wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, May 24, 2001 at 05:08:18PM -0700, Derek Simkowiak wrote:
> >
> > >       Although g_list_next() exists, it has been agreed that there is
> > > way too much code that directly accesses list->next to deprecate that kind
> > > of peeking.  In short, even if list->next was meant to be private, through
> > > real-world practice it has become public.  And since list->data is already
> > > public, there is no need for g_list_data().
> >
> >         I know folks use list->next and list->data.  I am not, in any
> > way, claiming we can fix it in existing code.  But we can provide pretty
> > accessors for new code that some folks might like.
> 
> Personally, I too prefer information hiding, encapsulation, and all that jazz.
> But the real answer to this question depends on whether the GLib team considers
> the list structures as opaque data types or not.  If lists should be opaque
> data types, then the data accessor should be added.  If not, then the next and
> prev accessors should be removed.  Right now, the list structures are
> "straddling the fence".

They are not opaque data structures, and we pretty much universally use 
->next, ->prev in GTK+ code.

But removing the wrapper sugar would just be breaking a lot of code for
no good reason, I think.

Regards,
                                        Owen