DBF records API

[Ethan Furman]

I'm getting towards an actual non-beta release, which means even more 
tests, polishings, cleaning up of various things, and actual 
documentation.  :)

However, I am wondering about my current record API:

Currently, one does things like:

   record.scatter_fields()

or

   record.has_been_deleted

or

   record.record_number

The reason those method names are so long is that field names are 
limited to 10 characters, and long method names means no possibility of 
name clashes.

Unfortunately, Version 7 tables can have much longer field names.

So, do I not ever support version 7, do I not worry about it until I get 
there (which could easily be a long time from now), or do I move all the 
methods out of the record class and make them module level functions 
instead?  That would like:

   dbf.scatter_fields(record)

   dbf.has_been_deleted(record)

   dbf.record_number(record)

although probably with shorter names.

Thoughts?

~Ethan~