doc: Suggest keeping record type descriptors private.
* doc/contributing.texi (Data Types and Pattern Matching): Add paragraph about keeping RTDs private. Suggested-by: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer@gmail.com>
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@ -1308,6 +1308,17 @@ Guile Reference Manual}); pattern matching for records is better done
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using @code{match-record} from @code{(guix records)}, which, unlike
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@code{match}, verifies field names at macro-expansion time.
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When defining a new record type, keep the @dfn{record type descriptor}
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(RTD) private (@pxref{Records,,, guile, GNU Guile Reference Manual}, for
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more on records and RTDs). As an example, the @code{(guix packages)}
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module defines @code{<package>} as the RTD for package records but it
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does not export it; instead, it exports a type predicate, a constructor,
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and field accessors. Exporting RTDs would make it harder to change the
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application binary interface (because code in other modules might be
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matching fields by position) and would make it trivial for users to
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forge records of that type, bypassing any checks we may have in the
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official constructor (such as ``field sanitizers'').
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@node Formatting Code
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@subsection Formatting Code
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