Idea for useful utility

[utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxh!mhuxi!cbosgd!osu-dbs!julian]

Having the first line of a file tell how to process it is a nice idea
because it is a self documenting process.  It does not, however,
explain the relationships between that file and others it goes along
with.  For example, conditional compilation in C with one particular
flag (e.g. -DHOHO) often applies to more than one source file at a
time.  Thus to be fully self documenting, each of those files must
note that they are associated with all of the others, and if one is
processed with -DHOHO, the others have to be also.  Sounds pretty
awkward to me.

This is exactly one of the situations that make handles.  Seems like a
better idea when distributing files to distribute their makefiles also
so others can see not only how to process the file but how it relates
to other files.

Julian Gomez
Computer Graphics Research Group, Ohio State University
ucbvax!cbosg!osu-cgrg!julian