In article <345F3A08.8C8FC636@ibm.net>, Dave suggests:
>
> A suggestion:
> 1) A class patterned after Java's File class, encapsulating platform
> dependant filesystem naming  and access control conventions. Additional
> [overloaded] constructors for things like streams that open operating
> system files could also take references to instances of a C++ file
> class.

It could be patterned after the filename object defined by Common Lisp,
which seems to cover the needs of most operating systems.  (See "Common Lisp"
by Guy Steels, chap.23.)

A filename object contains these components (some of which are null or
defaulted if they don't make sense on the current OS):

    host        - Name of the file system
    device      - Device or file structure
    directory   - Directory path prefix
    name        - File name
    type        - File type or extension
    version     - Version or generation number

Some systems use all the fields (such as VMS, with filenames like
"RTFM::USR:[LIB.SOURCE]CTYPE.C;12") while other systems use only a
few (like Unix, with filenames like "/lib/source/ctype.c").

A few constants are also defined, such as:
    NAME_WILD    - Wildcard name
    TYPE_WILD    - Wildcard type
    VERS_NEWEST  - Newest file version number
    VERS_PREV    - Previous version num
    VERS_OLDEST  - Oldest existing version num
    etc.

There are functions for comparing and validating filenames, splitting and
merging components of filenames, etc.  Of course, we would also need
functions to convert a Filename object into something suitable for passing
to fopen() et al, as well as converting command line argument strings into
Filename objects.

[Standard disclaimer:  Of course, it's already too late for C and C++.]

-- david.tribble@noSPAM.central.beasys.com --
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Probably a 'File' class could have member functions like:
File::string toUNC()
File::string toURL()
File::string toPath(); [java has 'Cannonical' and 'Absolute' paths]

david.tribble@nospam.central.beasys.com wrote:

> In article <345F3A08.8C8FC636@ibm.net>, Dave suggests:
> >
> > A suggestion:
> > 1) A class patterned after Java's File class, encapsulating platform
> > dependant filesystem naming  and access control conventions. Additional
> > [overloaded] constructors for things like streams that open operating
> > system files could also take references to instances of a C++ file
> > class.
>
> It could be patterned after the filename object defined by Common Lisp,
> which seems to cover the needs of most operating systems.  (See "Common Lisp"
> by Guy Steels, chap.23.)
>
> A filename object contains these components (some of which are null or
> defaulted if they don't make sense on the current OS):
>
>     host        - Name of the file system
>     device      - Device or file structure
>     directory   - Directory path prefix
>     name        - File name
>     type        - File type or extension
>     version     - Version or generation number
>
> Some systems use all the fields (such as VMS, with filenames like
> "RTFM::USR:[LIB.SOURCE]CTYPE.C;12") while other systems use only a
> few (like Unix, with filenames like "/lib/source/ctype.c").
>
> A few constants are also defined, such as:
>     NAME_WILD    - Wildcard name
>     TYPE_WILD    - Wildcard type
>     VERS_NEWEST  - Newest file version number
>     VERS_PREV    - Previous version num
>     VERS_OLDEST  - Oldest existing version num
>     etc.
>
> There are functions for comparing and validating filenames, splitting and
> merging components of filenames, etc.  Of course, we would also need
> functions to convert a Filename object into something suitable for passing
> to fopen() et al, as well as converting command line argument strings into
> Filename objects.
>
> [Standard disclaimer:  Of course, it's already too late for C and C++.]
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