export_to (Was: Re: the OO metaphor)

[Thomas Lindgren]

> Could someone explain to me how in practice you actually get in
> trouble from not having export_to?

One advantage I can think of is for automated tools, such as xref, to
detect problems. It also means we can locally, within a module, know
that certain functions are _only_ used by direct remote calls.

In a similar vein to "export_to", I'd like to have something like
this:

-export([...]).  %% functions visible outside the module
-apply([....]).  %% functions that can be metacalled
-spawn([....]).  %% functions that can be spawned

The "internal exports" would show up in -apply or -spawn, but not in -export.
Some shorthand could be provided as well 
(-compile(export_all) = export+apply+spawn?).

			Thomas
--
Thomas Lindgren					thomas+junk@REDACTED
Alteon WebSystems

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