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Side‐effects in Automatic File Updating
Author(s) -
Miller Webb,
Myers Eugene W.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
software: practice and experience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1097-024X
pISSN - 0038-0644
DOI - 10.1002/j.1097-024x.1986.tb00012.x
Subject(s) - computer science , unix , file system , simple (philosophy) , computer file , file format , programming language , information retrieval , database , operating system , software , philosophy , epistemology
File update programs, such as the UNIX make command are invaluable, but enigmatic. They are difficult to write because the repercussions of an algorithmic variation can be elusive. Even experienced users often specify file relationships incorrectly, and are occasionally suprised by the tool's behaviour. This paper develops a rigorous conceptual model and employs it to answer some of the questions facing writers and users of file update tools. Coupled with empirical data about makefiles, these results motivate a conceptually simple update program.