Re: Rename “File API” to “FileReader API”?

On Tue, 10 Nov 2009, Dominique Hazael-Massieux wrote:
> 
> I alluded to this during the joint F2F meeting between WebApps and DAP 
> last week, but thought I would make the proposal more formally: given 
> that the current “File API” [1] really defines a FileReader 
> interface, and given that DAP is supposed to come up with a more generic 
> filesystems API (including the possibility to write to files), I suggest 
> that “File API” should be renamed to “FileReader API.”

Regardless of which working group it ends up in, the same spec should do 
the reading and writing. So even if we decide to do work on reading first, 
in WebApps, and then move the spec to DAP to add writing, it still doesn't 
make sense to rename it, IMHO.

I would also suggest that to avoid running into the issue of people having 
different idea of what a file system is, we should call the other spec the 
Directory API. That way we have a clear delineation -- one spec to define 
how directories work, and one to define how files work.

Note that in the case of the File API, most of the API's entry points are 
actually in HTML APIs (primarily in <input type=file> and DataTransfer, 
but also in postMessage) and in Web Storage. It's likely that for the non- 
widget version of these APIs, the same will be true of the Directory API.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Tuesday, 10 November 2009 20:30:09 UTC