Rebol, extensions and function naming

Question

I am working on some extensions for Rebol 3 (posix/fann/math).

To avoid global namespace pollution, I am exporting the functions with a simple prefix source identifier. For example: POSIX-FORK for fork, or POSIX-NANOSLEEP for nanosleep.

Is there any better approach or official Rebol naming convention?

Answer 1

That's a pretty standard naming convention for Rebol exports, though they should be lowercase in the code of course. The all uppercase thing is just a naming convention when referring to functions in chat clients or web sites that can't show code like this. You generally don't uppercase any words in Rebol code unless they are used for something else.

However, if you want to avoid global namespace pollution, declare your extension module with the options: [private] header. That will make it so the exports of your module are only imported by modules or scripts that request them explicitly with import or the needs header. This especially goes for modules or extensions that export low-level C-like APIs, which are best only imported by the modules that implement the high-level wrappers. It's good to remember that the module part of the extension is a full Rebol module, and it is often best to put your high-level wrapper code there and not export the C-like functions at all, keeping them for internal use.

An additional trick is that when you are exporting constants or enum values, it is best to put them in an object in your module and export the object instead. That way you don't export to the global namespace and you can protect the words from modification.

Another trick is to not export stuff at all and have people import your module using the import function. Unless you mark your module's words as hidden they will still be available even if they're not exported. This is a little inconvenient in most cases though, so it's better to use a private module instead. You can also export your high-level API and not export your low-level API, so the low-level API is available to import if someone wants to use it.

Check here for a more thorough answer about how modules and extensions are used: How are words bound within a Rebol module?