Re: lynx-dev I added a new feature -- can I modify other things to make them nicer?

[dickey]

> Wow.. I added an actual worthwhile feature to Lynx, and it worked the first 
> time.. (WHEW!)  It was only a few lines of code, mostly code reused from 
> other places, and there are probably things I'm missing, but anyway.... 
>  
>  
> So, I'm using other routines to do most of the work for me..  But can I  
> change the format of those routines if their functionality is almost, 
> but not quite, what I need? 
>  
> For example, save_bookmark_link doesn't have a return value, but I really 
> need to know whether the user cancelled to stop the rest of my feature from 
> firing... 
>  
> My feature is what I whined about last night -- moving bookmarks from  
> one bookmark file to another.  Sure, I could just edit the files in an 
> editor, but for once in a while use, my feature is handier. 
>  
> Basically -- can I just change things willy nilly even if they end up  
> me having to change things not directly involved in my feature (if I change 
> the proto of save_bookmark_link, I may have to change other things). 

Well, I prefer that the changes are complete (I'll still try to
test/cleanup, but may overlook something).  But (some examples come to
mind, including my own changes), you have to be careful about changing the
meaning of almost-the-same code - it may not really be, since (for example)
it's hard to tell the difference between a local filesystem path and an
incomplete URL, except by context.  (Well, on Unix they both have /'s, and
we don't usually look closer).

-- 
Thomas E. Dickey
address@hidden
http://www.clark.net/pub/dickey