There is no easy way of making a function private in GAP.
Some packages make a single record (for example semigroups make SEMIGROUPS,
ferret makes _FerretHelperFuncs), and put private functions as members of this
record -- users are unlikely to dig into such records, and you can document
they should not call such functions. This is enough for most packages, and
there exist packages with kernel extensions where digging into undocumented
functions can crash or corrupt GAP -- users are expected to not do so.
Technically, it is possible to make entirely private functions, by making an
unnamed function and immediately executing it (but I wouldn't do this, I just
mention it for completeness. This is a common technique in Javascript). The
below code makes a new function which takes no arguments, and then immediately
executes it. This creates the global name "PublicFunc", but privatefunc cannot
be accessed.
(function()
local privatefunc;
privatefunc := function(x) return x + 1; end;
# Or you can use InstallFunction, etc.
BindGlobal("PublicFunc",
function(x)
return privatefunc(x) + 6;
end);
end)();
-----Original Message-----
From: Mathieu Dutour <mathieu.dut...@gmail.com>
Sent: 27 October 2020 11:04
To: forum@gap-system.org
Subject: {Suspected Spam} [GAP Forum] Private function of a package
Dear all,
I am working to make my package for polyhedral computation "polyhedral" (see
e.g.
http://mathieudutour.altervista.org/Polyhedral/index.html)
as a normal regular package for GAP.
I would like to have some function of this package to be used only internally
and not put available to users. Is that possible?
Mathieu
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