Stdlib module path/special.vitl

Overview

`path/special.vitl` is a public stdlib surface inside the `path` family. It should be read as one focused slice of the broader family responsibility: Path manipulation, special locations, walkers, and globbing.

Purpose

This file should be chosen because of responsibility, not because its name “sounds close enough”. Inside the path family, it carries one focused part of the contract and keeps that responsibility separate from neighboring concerns.

• A project root can be normalized before any file is read.
• A walker can enumerate source files while parsing and diagnostics remain elsewhere.

Taxonomy

Think of this page as a generated encyclopedia entry rather than a hand-written tutorial. The goal is to show what kind of module this is, how dense it is, and what reading strategy makes sense before depending on it.

• Medium procedure surface: this file groups several related operations behind one namespace.
• Owns domain vocabulary: the module declares data shapes in addition to executable helpers, so its types are part of the contract.
• Minimal top-level dependencies: the module reads as mostly self-contained from its opening declarations.
• Explicit export surface: the file ends with visible export declarations instead of relying only on implicit namespace discovery.

Implementation profile

This profile is inferred directly from the source text. It does not replace reading the file, but it tells you quickly whether the module is mostly declarative, loop-heavy, branch-heavy, or organized around many small exits.

Top-level API inventory

Imported surfaces

This file does not advertise a top-level `use` surface in its opening declarations. That often means it is either self-contained or an aggregation layer.

Position in family

This file is module 4 of 5 in the path family when ordered by path. By procedure count it ranks 3, and by line count it ranks 3. Those ranks are useful as rough signals of breadth, not as quality judgments.

Declaration map

The declaration map turns raw source into a scan-friendly catalog. It is useful when the file is large enough that a reader wants to orient by kinds of surfaces first.

The table is exhaustive for top-level declarations of the selected kinds. This file declares 23 matching surfaces.

Representative signatures

These signatures are shown in source order so the page keeps the feel of a reference manual, not just a keyword cloud.

• form PathSpecialManifest { (line 8)
• form PathSpecialHealth { (line 15)
• form PathSpecialSummary { (line 22)
• proc home_dir() -> string { (line 27)
• proc temp_dir() -> string { (line 31)
• proc current_dir() -> string { (line 35)
• proc config_dir() -> string { (line 39)
• proc cache_dir() -> string { (line 43)
• proc desktop_dir() -> string { (line 47)
• proc documents_dir() -> string { (line 51)
• proc downloads_dir() -> string { (line 55)
• proc get_path_env() -> [string] { (line 60)
• proc find_in_path(executable: string) -> string { (line 64)
• proc add_to_path(directory: string) -> int { (line 68)
• proc remove_from_path(directory: string) -> int { (line 72)
• proc special_version() -> string { (line 76)
• proc special_ready() -> bool { (line 80)
• proc special_manifest() -> PathSpecialManifest { (line 84)

The list is intentionally capped here; the source file declares 22 matching signatures in total.

How to use this module

Start by reading the file as an ownership boundary. Ask three questions: what enters this module, what stable types or procedures it exports, and what adjacent module should stay outside of it.

1. Read space and top-level imports first so the ownership boundary of path/special.vitl is explicit.
2. Read declared forms and picks before algorithms so the data vocabulary is stable in your head.
3. Traverse procedures in source order; the early helpers usually explain the naming and numeric conventions used later.
4. Use the source landmarks section below as a table of contents when the file is large.
5. Only after that compare neighbor modules, because the right boundary choice matters more than memorizing one helper name.

User example

This example is generated from the actual stdlib module surface. Its job is not to be the smallest snippet possible; its job is to show a realistic consumer-shaped file that exercises the module and mirrors the language keywords the module itself relies on.

space demo/path_special
form PathRun {
  pattern: string,
  ready: bool
}
proc run_example() -> PathRun {
  let entries = home_dir()
  let ready: bool = true
  let stable: bool = ready and entries.len >= 0
  give PathRun { pattern: "src/**/*.vitl", ready: true }
}
export run_example

Keyword coverage

This table makes the “all keywords of the module” requirement auditable. It compares the detected Vitte keywords in the source file with the generated consumer example above.

The generated snippet exercises every detected Vitte keyword used by this module.

Source shape

space vitte/path/special
// Get special directories
form PathSpecialManifest {
  name: string,
  version: string,
  ready: bool,
  module_count: i32
}
form PathSpecialHealth {
  ready: bool,

The excerpt is not meant to replace the file. It exists to make the module recognizable at first glance, the same way a Wikipedia infobox helps the reader orient before reading the whole article.

Source landmarks

Large files are easier to retain when they have visible landmarks. When the source contains explicit section banners, they are surfaced here; otherwise the first major declarations are used as anchors.

• Special Directories and Environment Module

Source organization

When a file carries its own internal chaptering, those chapters usually reveal the intended reading order better than a flat symbol list. This section reconstructs that organization from the source itself.

Complete API catalog

This catalog is the exhaustive file-level index for the module. It is intentionally closer to a generated encyclopedia appendix than to a tutorial summary.

Data surfaces

Procedures

Exports

Integration boundaries

Within path, this file should remain focused. If a future helper changes the host boundary, scheduling boundary, or data-shape boundary, it probably belongs in a neighbor module instead of being added here by convenience.

• Family responsibility: Path manipulation, special locations, walkers, and globbing.
• Family architecture role: Use `path` when the program needs path semantics, traversal, or normalization. Keep it distinct from file contents and from business validation.

Composition guidance

Choose this module when

• Choose path/special.vitl when the main question is owned by this module rather than by transport, storage, orchestration, or user-interface code.
• A project root can be normalized before any file is read.
• A walker can enumerate source files while parsing and diagnostics remain elsewhere.

Pause before extending it when

• Avoid extending this file when the new helper mostly changes the boundary to host I/O, runtime coordination, or foreign integration instead of staying inside path.
• Check nearby modules such as path/globbing.vitl, path/manipulation.vitl, path/walker.vitl before adding convenience wrappers here.

Relationship table

This table keeps the page closer to a real encyclopedia entry: a module is easier to understand when compared with its nearest alternatives in the same family.

Neighbor modules

• path/globbing.vitl
• path/manipulation.vitl
• path/walker.vitl
• path.vitl