[wp-hackers] Plugin dependency checking

[Mike Schinkel]

"scribu" <scribu at gmail.com> wrote:
> Yes, not using interfaces would would limit what could be done 
> with their children, but on the other hand, interfaces would 
> limit what child plugins could do themselves. 

How so?  I don't see it. 

Minimally (for the proposed use in WordPress) an "interface" is simply a name that parent and child agree to offer and to use.  It could be more than just a name but it would not have to be.

> It's the same tradeoff that would happen if normal plugins would 
> have to have an interface that the core would have to check.

I think it would be the other way around, i.e. core would implement (an) interface(s) that plugins would use. BTW, that is what already happens implicitly anyway, so we are not loosing anything by formalizing into a name. 

Let me see if I can find time to work on some examples. I think you'll "see" it more readily with code.

-Mike Schinkel
Custom Wordpress Plugins
http://mikeschinkel.com/custom-wordpress-plugins