LaTeX forum ⇒ General ⇒ expl3 for dummies Topic is solved

[Stefan Kottwitz]

That was a spammer. I checked it once he posted, it was not yet clear spam. He added a signature later with a spam. I deleted the post and that account.

Thanks!

Stefan

[cgnieder]

I would need, if possible, some clarification as to what the intended purposes of local public, local internal, global public, and public function are.

I take it the difference between function and variable is clear? (This is mostly a semantic difference here as in TeX everything is a macro in the end.)

internal means variables and functions only to be used in the package and by the package author; the code can be changed or deleted or whatever from release to release, it is not to be relied upon by others.

public means available for every user of the package, ideally with a documented meaning and stable from one release to the next so that users can rely upon them.

local/global means local/global with respect to TeX's groups – in traditional TeX (the concept is the same in expl3):

Code: [Select all] [Expand/Collapse] [Download] ({untitled.tex}) Open in Overleaf

% local:
{\def\foo{bar}} \show\foo % \foo=undefined
\bgroup\def\foo{bar}\egroup \show\foo % \foo=undefined
\begingroup\def\foo{bar}\endgroup \show\foo % \foo=undefined
 
% global:
{\gdef\foo{bar}} \show\foo % \foo=macro: ->bar
\bgroup\def\foo{bar}\egroup \show\foo % \foo=macro: ->bar
\begingroup\def\foo{bar}\endgroup \show\foo % \foo=macro: ->bar

[erwann]

OK, thanks.

Maybe internal/public should be renamed private/public or internal/external or implementation/interface?