Re: Variables as procedure abstractions

[Kaloian Doganov]

Yavor Doganov <address@hidden> writes:

    I think our makefile is generally simple and readable for a über
    encapsulation like this.

We have many repetitious lines that differ only on few parameters.  In
fact the rules for home.LANG.shtml and ARTICLE.LANG.html are essentially
the same.  The main difference is in how the target and prerequisites
are specified.  E.g. differ only on WHAT files are processed, not HOW
they are processed.

Generally, when there is so much redundancy, then it is clear that
additional level of abstraction is needed.  Of course, this does not
mean that using $(generate-html)-like variables is the right way to make
those abstractions.  There is no guarantee that such abstraction
mechanism even exists in our language (GNU Make).

    Anyway, I am not in opposition -- just have a bad feeling about
    this.

I see your point.

I do not have strong opinion on this.  (More precisely, I'm quite sure
that we need abstractions, but I have mixed emotions about the way they
would be implemented with variables).  So I'll play with the idea a
little bit and will share the results.