Re: declaring an atomic step

Thanks, Norm, that makes sense.  I'm finding that the difference
between atomic steps and compound steps is one of the more confusing
bits of the spec.

-James

On Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 9:04 PM, Norman Walsh <ndw@nwalsh.com> wrote:
> "James Sulak" <jsulak@gmail.com> writes:
>
>>>From 5.8.1:
>>
>> "When declaring an atomic step, the subpipeline in the declaration
>> must be empty. And, conversely, if the subpipeline in a declaration is
>> empty, the declaration must be for an atomic step."
>>
>> Does this mean that this:
>>
>> <p:pipeline name="new-identity">
>>   <p:identity />
>> </p:pipeline>
>>
>> is technically declaring a compound step, and not an atomic step?
>
> Yes. It's a compound step with a single step in its subpipline.
>
>> And
>> if so, is it impossible to declare an atomic step that's not an
>> extension implemented at the processor level (if that makes sense)?
>
> Yes and no.
>
> Users can declare new compound steps, expressed in terms of a
> subpipeline of other steps. Users can then use these compound steps as
> atomic steps in other pipelines.
>
> Users can declare new atomic steps, here's one:
>
> <p:declare-step type="ex:foo" xmlns:ex="...">
>  <p:input port="source"/>
>  <p:input port="secondary"/>
>  <p:output port="result"/>
>  <p:option name="use-dwim" required="true"/>
>  <p:option anem="read-users-mind" select="'false'"/>
> </p:declare-step>
>
> But they won't work unless the processor knows how to run them. How,
> or if, you can tell a processor to run them is implementation
> dependent. (In calabash, you put something like this in a configuration
> file:
>
>   <implementation type="ex:foo" xmlns:ex="..."
>                   class-name="com.skynet.library.Foo"/>
>
> where the named class implements the right interface.)
>
>                                        Be seeing you,
>                                          norm
>
> --
> Norman Walsh <ndw@nwalsh.com> | If you don't have the time to do it
> http://nwalsh.com/            | right, where are you going to find the
>                              | time to do it over?
>

Received on Monday, 15 December 2008 03:36:38 UTC