What have I done now ? (aka CR and LF confusion)

[Richard Gaskin]

Alex Tweedly wrote:

 > Re. a PR to change it, it does seem it will run into concerns about
 > backward compatability. Is it likely to succeed to propose a new
 > URL-type - maybe "textfile".

What exactly does the PR do?

If it changes default Mac line endings from CR to LF, thumbs up.

macOS is a certified Unix, and has been for more than 20 years.  LF is 
the OS-default line ending. Command-line tools expect LF, and the GUI 
apps I've explored this in accept both where they use CR at all.

So while I can understand a concern about backward compatibility, it 
seems this one really only applies to a relatively small subset of edge 
cases for those depending on the simpler non-binary syntax for a 
specific binary sequence.

The simpler non-binary syntax is there to make things, well, simple.

Those needing a specific binary sequence should expect to use the binary 
syntax, while everyone else can enjoy simple file I/O reliably.

Keep in mind that "everyone else" includes what we hope will be a much 
larger audience of future users than the sum of all users to date.  Why 
plan for no-growth?  And even among current users, as in this thread it 
seems most expect the default to use the OS'es current default, not 
something leftover from the '90s.

Am I missing something?

LC has a very strong and favorable history of maintaining backward 
compatibility, far beyond anything I've seen with any other language.

I wonder sometimes if we take it too far, if maybe the rest of the world 
isn't wrong in sometimes allowing for the inevitable changes that take 
place in OSes.

 From time to time LC does deprecate and change things, and sometimes 
that means a little extra work for folks moving to a newer engine.  But 
given how rarely this happens, I don't think folks would mind another 
rare moment of change, esp. one that seems far more an improvement for 
most devs than a problem.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems
  Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
  ____________________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com