For, um, posterity, I just wanted to note that Tom's
statement above
that
"the OpenACS style is to flip all the tcl conventions around
anyway. Required parameters in ad_procs come after the options, unlike
tcl."
is, AFAIK, completely untrue - there
are no standard Tcl
conventions when it comes to ordering of optional vs. required
parameters, nor named vs. un-named parameters.
This is easily demonstrated by reading the
Tcl docs
for various Tcl commands.
Many, like
string,
seem to have all the named optional arguments first, all required
un-named arguments next, and maybe a few extra un-named optional
arguments at the end.
Others, like
clock format,
have a required un-named argument first, with optional named
arguments after it.
So I hope these examples from the Tcl core put that particular red
herring to rest.
The OpenACS ad_proc standard of "all named -foo parameters first, then
all un-named positional parameters next" is at least completely
consistent with unix command-line usage parameter ordering (which
inspired it), and at least in that one respect, is used consistently
throughout OpenACS.
(The whole "parameter::get -parameter $parameter_id"
foolishness that started off this thread, and the related question of
whether parameters should generally be named or un-named, are of
course entirely separate matters. And here and now, I am specifically
not addressing those at all.)
