On 28 November 2013 22:37, Nicolas Cellier nicolas.cellier.aka.nice@gmail.com wrote:
Also remember that we have to move all methods that read/write fonts and image out of graphics; otherwise it depends on a bunch of packages (system, files, ...).
Note that graphics was focused on BitBlt graphics. But this is only one possible backend (Pharo is developing alternate ones). Though, the font scanning is independent of BitBlt (well, there is one specialized subclass for rendering on BitBlt). Thus, in term of modularity these two things could be split eventually (BitBltGraphics depending on Text scanning). Pharo has grouped text things together (both description and scanning). Don't know if it is a good idea though...
Anyway, I find those classification really limited. As emphasized thru the discussions there is more than one classification possible. For example, you might want to see Array both in Collections and Kernel.
Those classifications are like file system: they do not match our need/brain. We want something that can be queried like a database.
So sometimes, I wonder if we shouldn't have class/methods belonging to several packages. The class/method would be removed only when all it's parent packages have been removed. You could then remove Collections without removing Array, because Array is also in Kernel. I feel like such feature could avoid balkanization of packages. Or maybe it's the most stupid idea... We should push it a bit to see how it goes...
That's an interesting idea, and I wouldn't mind exploring it... at a later time :) Right now I want to solve a much smaller problem :)
frank
2013/11/28 Frank Shearar frank.shearar@gmail.com
One way in which Graphics depends on System is through the resumable exception FontSubstitutionDuringLoading. StrikeFont class >> #familyName:size: uses it to signal that a font family is missing, and ProjectLoading uses it to record missing fonts.
The relationship is entirely reasonable, but problematic from a module point of view: it entangles a low level package (Graphics) with a mid- to high-level package (System).
I propose the following:
- rename FontSubstitutionDuringLoading to MissingFont.
- Update the three references to MissingFont.
- move MissingFont to Graphics.
This preserves the behaviour, but suggests what the problem is rather than under what circumstances the problem appears. More importantly though, it means that Graphics depends that much less on System.
Thoughts?
(This has the side effect of removing the problems that I reported yesterday regarding not being able to see all users of FontSubstitutionDuringLoading - the new MissingFont literals are all ClassBindings. However, note that during the class rename I didn't see all the places I needed to change, presumably because of the Alias/ClassBinding discrepancy.)
frank