On 28.04.2010, at 06:32, commits@source.squeak.org wrote:
A new version of Sound was added to project The Inbox: http://source.squeak.org/inbox/Sound-wiz.17.mcz
==================== Summary ====================
Name: Sound-wiz.17 Author: wiz Time: 28 April 2010, 2:31:56.883 am UUID: 0ea1e8e2-7a94-44cd-8db8-5e01002db31a Ancestors: Sound-nice.15
Ok this is a resubmission of String>>sound.
I have fixed the nits.
I have discussed why I believe this is the right word rather than asSound on the mailing list. Squeak-dev 2010. I have not heard back from Bert yea of nay. So as not to undermine my own cause I am assuming my arguments were successful.
Well, I can see the satisfying smile in being able to write "'croak' sound play". In particular if you're a native speaker. That makes my objection to it not absolute, and in any case, my opinion isn't the only one that counts ;)
But knowing the naming conventions of the system as we have it, I could never guess that selector. The name that comes to my mind when thinking "I've got a String and I want it to be a Sound, wonder if there's a direct method for that" is "asSound". Because I know the pattern of asInteger, asDate, asTime, etc. It just is more in line with the other conversion methods. For reference, I copied this list from a Protocol Browser on String:
asActionSequence (Object) asActionSequenceTrappingErrors (Object) asAlphaNumeric:extraChars:mergeUID: (String) asArray (SequenceableCollection) asBag (Collection) asByteArray (String) asByteString (String) asCharacter (String) asCharacterSet (Collection) asColorArray (SequenceableCollection) asCommaString (Collection) asCommaStringAnd (Collection) asCubic (SequenceableCollection) asDate (String) asDateAndTime (String) asDecomposedUnicode (String) asDigitsAt:in:do: (SequenceableCollection) asDigitsToPower:do: (SequenceableCollection) asDisplayText (String) asDraggableMorph (Object) asDuration (String) asExplorerString (String) asFileName (String) asFloatArray (SequenceableCollection) asFourCode (String) asHex (String) asHtml (String) asIdentifier: (String) asIdentitySet (Collection) asInteger (String) asIntegerArray (SequenceableCollection) asLegalSelector (String) asLowercase (String) asMorph (String) asNumber (String) asOctetString (String) asOop (Object) asOrderedCollection (Collection) asPacked (String) asParagraph (String) asPluralBasedOn: (String) asPointArray (SequenceableCollection) asPostscript (String) asPrecomposedUnicode (String) asSet (Collection) asSetElement (Object) asSignedInteger (String) asSmalltalkComment (String) asSortedArray (ArrayedCollection) asSortedCollection (Collection) asSortedCollection: (Collection) asSqueakPathName (String) asString (String) asStringMorph (String) asStringOn:delimiter: (Collection) asStringOn:delimiter:last: (Collection) asStringOrText (String) asStringWithCr (SequenceableCollection) asSymbol (String) asText (String) asTextMorph (Object) asTime (String) asTimeStamp (String) asTraitComposition (SequenceableCollection) asURI (String) asUVersion (String) asUnHtml (String) asUnsignedInteger (String) asUppercase (String) asUrl (String) asUrlRelativeTo: (String) asVersion (String) asVmPathName (String) asWideString (String) asWordArray (SequenceableCollection)
To me, the little "as" prefix is not superfluous at all. It makes a selector visibly belong to a familiar class of methods.
I really really want to encourage you making Squeak easier to play with interactively. It's what makes Squeak special. But "as close to natural language as possible" is not the only criterium for that. Discoverability and consistency are important, too. And in that department, "asSound" wins, IMHO.
- Bert -
Hello Jerome and Bert
If I remember well the point of departure for Jerome was that there is no Beeper class anymore. And he wants to have a replacement for that.
There is the class side of SampledSound / category 'sound library' / method 'playSoundNamed'.
The method returns nil in case the sound is not there. And that method needs to be fixed. If I want the computer to play a sound and it does not find a sound at least I a 'beep' sound.
This is what Jerome implemented in the String library. I do not thing that it belongs to that place. It belongs to SampledSound. I put in a proposal in the inbox. It currently gives a visual feedback (a dialog box) plus a beep sound if a sound is not found.
However I am not pleased with this solution actually.
I think we should have an easier interface for the Sound library.
Something like
Sound play: 'mooh'
When I look at class AbstractSound I wonder if it is still abstract?
Could it be an idea for a refactoring exercise. Have AbstractSound and then Sound as subclass and then SampledSound. As a beginner with Squeak (a multimedia environment) I would expect a class 'Sound' to be there.
--Hannes
On 4/28/2010 8:27 AM, Hannes Hirzel wrote:
If I remember well the point of departure for Jerome was that there is no Beeper class anymore. And he wants to have a replacement for that.
Not exactly. The method Object>>beep: was removed. Class Beeper is still there. That's why my original recommendation was to implement Beeper>>beep: and get on with it. It seems like Jerome got a bit side-tracked in explorations of language :-) I would still say that the best way to address the problem is to implement the idiomatic "Beeper beep:" and leave the String protocol alone.
Cheers, - Andreas
There is the class side of SampledSound / category 'sound library' / method 'playSoundNamed'.
The method returns nil in case the sound is not there. And that method needs to be fixed. If I want the computer to play a sound and it does not find a sound at least I a 'beep' sound.
This is what Jerome implemented in the String library. I do not thing that it belongs to that place. It belongs to SampledSound. I put in a proposal in the inbox. It currently gives a visual feedback (a dialog box) plus a beep sound if a sound is not found.
However I am not pleased with this solution actually.
I think we should have an easier interface for the Sound library.
Something like
Sound play: 'mooh'When I look at class AbstractSound I wonder if it is still abstract?
Could it be an idea for a refactoring exercise. Have AbstractSound and then Sound as subclass and then SampledSound. As a beginner with Squeak (a multimedia environment) I would expect a class 'Sound' to be there.
--Hannes
Sorry for a late reply, I've been struggling to keep up lately.. Just one comment:
The method returns nil in case the sound is not there. And that method needs to be fixed. If I want the computer to play a sound and it does not find a sound at least I a 'beep' sound.
Which sound plays _could_ be very important; think of a sight-disabled person, for example.
In that case, I think if the application asks the system to play a sound that does not exist, an exception should be signaled. At that point, the application can handle that exception and play a default beep sound if that is the desired behavior. That way test can catch it easier too, so that mere 'beeps' do not end up replacing the proper sound in an app simply because it was not caught by testing..
Regards, Chris
squeak-dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org
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Andreas Raab -
Bert Freudenberg -
Chris Muller -
Hannes Hirzel