(guile.info.gz) Modules

 
 31 Modules
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 When programs become large, naming conflicts can occur when a function
 or global variable defined in one file has the same name as a function
 or global variable in another file.  Even just a _similarity_ between
 function names can cause hard-to-find bugs, since a programmer might
 type the wrong function name.
 
    The approach used to tackle this problem is called _information
 encapsulation_, which consists of packaging functional units into a
 given name space that is clearly separated from other name spaces.  
 
    The language features that allow this are usually called _the module
 system_ because programs are broken up into modules that are compiled
 separately (or loaded separately in an interpreter).
 
    Older languages, like C, have limited support for name space
 manipulation and protection.  In C a variable or function is public by
 default, and can be made local to a module with the `static' keyword.
 But you cannot reference public variables and functions from another
 module with different names.
 
    More advanced module systems have become a common feature in recently
 designed languages: ML, Python, Perl, and Modula 3 all allow the
 _renaming_ of objects from a foreign module, so they will not clutter
 the global name space.  
 
    In addition, Guile offers variables as first-class objects.  They can
 be used for interacting with the module system.
(guile.info.gz) Modules

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