[ANN] Nile 0.9.5

Andreas Raab andreas.raab at gmx.de
Fri Nov 9 08:17:03 UTC 2007


Damien Cassou wrote:
> 2007/11/8, stephane ducasse <stephane.ducasse at free.fr>:
>> This is indeed simpler that way :)
>> So the feedback was good.
> 
> I think so. Andreas, what is your opinion about the new design? Do you
> still think there are two much traits for a too small benefit?

In a way, more so than before. The structure in the PDF looks reasonably 
simple but it leaves one wondering what the difference to just using a 
class hierarchy like the following would be:

NSStream
   NSPositionableStream
     NSCollectionStream
     NSFileStream

Looking at the code, the inability to distinguish between what method 
comes from which trait (something that is trivially to see by looking at 
the hierarchy) or which methods are overridden (again trivial with the 
hierarchy) make it the use of traits feel like an obfuscation of an 
otherwise quite reasonable design.

If I had the time I'd actually build a version of Nile using just the 
above structure to prove that point - I think it would be undeniable 
that the structure you are envisioning is quite reasonable but best 
implemented without using traits.

Cheers,
   - Andreas



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