29.6 Library and modules

A Bigloo library may be composed of several Bigloo modules (even if in our example only one module was used). The modules composing the library are free to import each other. Nevertheless, someone designing a Bigloo library should be aware that Bigloo importation creates dependences between modules. A module mod1 that imports a module mod2 depends on mod2 because mod1 requires mod2 to be initialized (i.e. mod1 calls to the initialization function of mod2). The result is that using import clauses inside modules composing a library may create a lot of dependencies between the object files that are used to build the associated Unix library. Dependencies should be avoided because they make the Unix linkers unable to produce small stand-alone programs. Instead of import clauses, use clauses should be preferred. Use clauses do not create dependencies because a module mod1 that uses a second module mod2 does not require mod2 to be initialized. Of course, it may happen situations where the initialization is mandatory and thus, the import must not be replaced with a use clause. The source code of the Bigloo library makes use of import and use clauses. The Bigloo standard library should be studied as an example.

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