[Python-Dev] os.path.dirname misleading? (original) (raw)

Greg Ewing greg@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz
Thu, 13 Mar 2003 14:51:27 +1300 (NZDT)

Kevin Altis <altis@semi-retired.com>:

Pity the functions aren't named os.path.head and os.path.tail.

It wouldn't be entirely clear what they mean even then -- "head" might mean just the first pathname component.

In a tool I wrote some years ago in Scheme, I called them "filename-directory" and "filename-nondirectory". Which suffered from the same problem, really (they didn't consult the file system either). But it didn't matter, since I was the only person who used them, and I knew what they meant. :-)

Maybe they should be called "all_except_the_last_pathname_component" and "last_pathname_component"?

Greg Ewing, Computer Science Dept, +--------------------------------------+ University of Canterbury, | A citizen of NewZealandCorp, a | Christchurch, New Zealand | wholly-owned subsidiary of USA Inc. | greg@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz +--------------------------------------+