Should pins auto export?

[AndrewCarterUK]

For

• You pretty much always want to do it if you want a pin instance
• Reduces boiler plate code
• Less chance of bugs from forgetting to do it
• Pin object is unusable unless exported

  Against

• Possibly hidden side affect
• Could be messy to disable $pin = $factory->getInputPin($num, $autoExport);
• Might want to export and unexport multiple times during lifetime of app so need the methods anyway

Interested to hear any other thoughts

[colinodell]

I really like this idea. You could essentially run that export as part of the constructor.

Possibly hidden side affect

None come to mind.

Could be messy to disable Might want to export and unexport multiple times during lifetime of app so need the methods anyway

I'm having trouble coming up with a use case for disabling a GPIO pin at any time other than garbage collection (nothing references the pin any more so why not) or program termination (resetting it back to an unused state).

If I wanted to change the pin mode from input to output (probably rare, but still possible) couldn't I just grab a new pin from the factory? That'll result in a second export() but I don't think that's harmful (should be easy enough to test whether that's a problem via bash).

If that's the case, then disabling a pin probably isn't necessary. If I no longer want my LED to glow, I can just write a 0 to it and forget about the pin.