Modules

Some Examples of Modules

A module is a sort of “plug-in”: a software package that can easily be used by other programmers. Modules can contain methods, classes, constants, and also other modules. We will use the term members for something, such as a method, that a module contains. Some modules are written in Pike, but C and C++ can also be used.

Pike is delivered with a number of useful modules. Here is a list of a few of the more interesting modules.

• Stdio

  This module is used for reading and writing files, and also for communication over the Internet, and for text-based dialogues with the user. We have used the Stdio module in several examples in this tutorial.

• GTK

  A toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces, with windows, buttons and so on.

• Image

  Processing and manipulation of pictures.

• Protocols

  Various protocols, i e ways of communicating. One of these is Protocols.HTTP, which is used to communicate with World Wide Web servers in order to retrieve web pages. Some other supported protocols are DNS, IMAP, IRC, LDAP, LysKOM, NNTP, SMTP, and TELNET.

• MIME

  Support for coding and encoding using MIME, which is used in electronic mail.

• Crypto

  Support for cryptography.

• Calendar

  Support for various calendar and date formats.

• Sql

  This module lets Pike use SQL database queries, with database servers such as mySQL, Oracle and Sybase.

• Thread

  Support for threaded execution of Pike programs.

• Process

  Functions to start and control other processes.

• Getopt

  Routines to interpret and handle command line options.

• LR

  LALR(1) parser generator.

• Yp

  Network Information System support.

• Gz

  Support for unpacking compressed files.

• Regexp

  Support for matching so-called regular expressions.

Depending on which operating system you are using, and on exactly how Pike was installed on your system, some of these modules may not be available.