Am Jan 23, 2007 um 14:12  schrieb Jecel Assumpcao Jr:

> David T. Lewis wrote:
>> Um, wait a minute. The Smalltalk compiler does not complain about it,
>> so why would we expect the Slang translator to complain about it?  
>> It's
>> perfectly valid Smalltalk, and it does not blow up until you run it
>> in Squeak.
>
> Exactly - my guess is that if this code had ever been executed it  
> would
> have failed with a "does not understand #self" error. So I don't see
> this system as broken (perhaps very fragile, though).

It is broken because Slang does *not* produce equivalent C code. So  
either we need to fix Slang to actually generate the right code, or  
make it throw up an error. *Silently* dropping an expression is  
unacceptable.

As for "ever been executed" ... For one reason or the other, most  
Slang hackers I know rarely use the simulation. Well, actually it  
depends. Like, core VM stuff, nobody simulates, it's just too slow to  
be interesting. Well perhaps except for Craig with his super-tiny  
image. With Slang-only plugins I have indeed used it (e.g., I wrote a  
TweakPlugin that speeds up a basic operation). But as soon as you are  
interfacing to an external library, simulation is next to useless.

Your point is valid in so far that *had* it ever been executed it  
would have been caught easily. But this requires a correct translation.

- Bert -