What is the difference between a .wl package and a .m package?

Question

In Mathematica 10.x, one now has both .wl Wolfram Language Packages and .m Wolfram Mathematica Packages.

What's the difference?
Is one of the two formats to be preferred in certain situations and, if so, which one and where?
Why, after making the menu selection File > New > Package, entering code, and saving, is it offered as default to save in the .wl format?

I have read the discussion here, but failed to see there satisfactory answers to those questions.

Note: I don't find any listing of Wolfram Language Package here.

it seems that there are differences in the order in which package files are loaded (check the wolfram groups discussion mentioned in your question). But that will probably only be relevant when you mix old (.m+Kernel/init.m) and new (.wl only) conventions... — Albert Retey, Nov 09 '15 at 15:16
one more thing: it seems that workbench still doesn't know about .wl files, but maybe I just don't know how to get the most recent version, does anyone know what the newest is? The update site announces 2.0.138 to be the newest for years... — Albert Retey, Nov 09 '15 at 15:42
Also, .m files are Objective C source files on the Mac, I believe. — Pillsy, Nov 09 '15 at 18:08
avoiding collision with matlab is a very good / welcome reason! — george2079, Nov 09 '15 at 18:20
Currently all descriptions involving packages in Wolfram Language Documentation use files ending with .m instead of .wl, which is quite weird. — hxiao, Nov 15 '15 at 05:47
@Albert Would you consider converting your comments into an answer? You have made some interesting observations and the question has generated quite a bit of interest in the months since it has been asked, so it would be worthy of an answer. — MarcoB, Jun 04 '16 at 06:16
@MarcoB: good point, I was not expecting noone else would give a better answer. I just have added one. — Albert Retey, Jun 04 '16 at 10:27

score 20 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 04 '16 at 11:42

20

As after half a year there is still no answer, here are some very short answers from my comments:

the difference is just the file ending as far as I know.
if you have installed MATLAB (or another software which also uses .m file extension) it is easier to let the OS distinguish between MATLAB files and Mathematica packages.
because that now seems to be the extension preferred by WRI, most probably more for marketing reasons than because of answer 2. My impression is that .m was just left to work for compatibility reasons, but maybe I'm wrong with that...

Despite answer 1. there is obviously a new problem when Mathematica needs to load a package and there are both a .m and a .wl file with the same name. It seems that there are differences in the order in which package files are loaded and that has seen some changes at least in early 10.x versions (check the Wolfram Groups discussion mentioned in your question). But that will probably only be relevant when you mix old (.m) and new (.wl) conventions which is something you obviously should avoid.

One more difference is the support within the Workbench which still doesn't know about .wl files. But maybe I just don't know how to get the most recent version, does anyone know what the newest is? The update site announces 2.0.138 to be the newest for years (still true in June 2016)...

edited Jun 04 '16 at 11:42

QuantumDot

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answered Jun 04 '16 at 10:26

Albert Retey

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I am agree with your second viewpoint, so I didn't install the MATLAB on my laptop. In addtion, the recent Workbench version I think is V3.0, because I achieved a copy from my friend. Please see here – xyz Jun 04 '16 at 11:11
@ShutaoTANG: I know that V3.0 of Workbench exists and is used by WRI internally since many years. The problem is that it still seems to not be officially released according to official product site – Albert Retey Jun 04 '16 at 13:28
I have installed the V3.0 (64bit) on my working PC, unfortunately, that PC is 32bit, so it @Albert Retey cannot be used normally. In addtion, I known that the V2.0 cannot debug with the Mathematica 10. – xyz Jun 04 '16 at 13:32
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@ShutaoTANG: I know that V3 exists and is used internally and usually can be received for beta testing form WRI if one asks for it. But that is the state now for years, I'd guess about 2008. My point is that there still is no official release of a newer version than 2.0.138... – Albert Retey Jun 04 '16 at 21:14
To keep this uptodate: Please note this. Workbench is now being supported and continued exclusively as a plugin to Eclispe IDE: Wolrfram Website Information. And as of today, Workbench does not seem to know about any .wl files. So no rebranding for the techies it seems. :) – gwr Apr 15 '17 at 16:50

What is the difference between a .wl package and a .m package?

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