"Andreas Raab" <andreas.raab at gmx.de> wrote:

> Ah, now here's an interesting point - I wasn't aware that your goal was to
> remove basically *all* methods from SystemDictionary.
I hadn't noticed that the aim was quite _that_ high either; I think you
(Stef) might want to take this in smaller bites and rest a while in
between or you might go quite, quite mad. Seriously, you've been working
on this a long time and I suggest a rest and time to let what has been
done settle down a bit. There are plenty of other areas needing cleaning
up as well so don't obsess on just one.

>  I'd still opt for a single
> generic utility class rather than twenty quite specific ones ;-)
If there is a case where it is really, definitely an obvious good thing
to have a class to represent some utility, then sure, use it. I have to
agree with Andreas that for cases where there isn't anything really
clear, leave it in somewhere a bit more generic and make sure it's
commented as a temporary home. SystemDictionary is/was a real mess but
it was certainly easy to remember 'Smalltalk garbageCollect'. It might
be quite a bit more annoying to have to learn that the new system is
'Memory garbageCollect' but 'VMSupport save: foo andQuit: true'. Or is
that 'Image save: foo andQuit: true'? 

tim
--
Tim Rowledge, tim at sumeru.stanford.edu, http://sumeru.stanford.edu/tim
Fractured Idiom:- VENI, VIDI, VISA - I came, I saw, I bought