8207690: Parsing API for classpath and similar path strings

[Alan Bateman]

On 10/09/2018 19:28, Jonathan Gibbons wrote:
> Roger,
>
> You've run into the standard naming ambiguity problem of "when is a 
> path a search path, with elements separated by File.pathSeparator 
> (e.g. class path, source path), and when is it a file path, with 
> elements separated by File.separator (e.g. a nio.file.Path identifying 
> a file or directory)?"
>
> This shows up most obviously in the method confusingly named 
> "pathToPaths".
>
> In other contexts (javac, jtreg, etc) I've tried to use the term 
> "search path" to describe the string that is a sequence of elements 
> separated by File.pathSeparator.
I agree the naming is confusing as this API is about parsing a search 
path into its components. The Instrumentation API is another example 
where "Search" was put into the method name.

-Alan