The <...> syntax is already there. In fact since 3.9.

Go to class Pragma in 4.1, bring up the class comment. At the bottom
you find the following

To browse ALL methods with pragmas in the system evaluate
	SystemNavigation default browseAllSelect: [:m| m pragmas notEmpty]

and to browse all nonprimitive methods with pragmas evaluate
	SystemNavigation default browseAllSelect: [:m| m primitive isZero
and: [m pragmas notEmpty]]

These are actually not so many.


You mention an example

<menu ...>
  <primitive...>
  <documentation ... >
  <test ...>
  <.. put any meta "annotation" you like here ...>

  ...and finally Smalltalk code .....


Yes this is the direction things seem to head .....

--Hannes

On 4/30/10, Hernán Morales Durand <hernan.morales at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Travis,
>
> Why do people need or want a different syntax for just another new
> object? I imagine one day where Smalltalk programmers are forced to
> write methods like:
>
>>>selector
>
>    <menu ...>
>    <primitive...>
>    <documentation ... >
>    <test ...>
>    <.. put any meta "annotation" you like here ...>
>
>    ...and finally Smalltalk code .....
>
> In this tag-oriented world, I don't like to write tags, if that were
> the case I would switch to Java and all those XML they love so much.
> Note that changing language it's not just changing syntax, it's a new
> form of connectionism thinking which entails loss of knowledge, even
> in nonnatural languages.
>
> Hernán
>
> 2010/4/29 Travis Griggs <travisgriggs at gmail.com>:
>> Weighing in on a 2 day dead topic is probably passe` around here... :)
>>
>> I can weigh in with some practical/historical experience from VisualWorks
>> land, where they originated.
>>
>> 1) We use them more and more. But judiciously. What they are really good
>> for
>> is defining programatic categorization of methods, so that one can
>> discover
>> programatically subsets of behavior that a given Behavior implements.
>> Examples include the obvious <settings..> and <menu..> sort of things. We
>> use them in the RefactoringBrowser to make certain aspect easily
>> pluggable,
>> such as adding your own tool pane, navigator pane, or status pane. The
>> inspector uses them to support arbitrary inspector fields on any object.
>> We
>> even use them in <test>s, because I've found that you tend to make better
>> test selector names, when your brain isn't trying to negotiate coming up
>> with a good selector name that describes what your test does AND begins
>> with
>> the 4 characters 'test'. I used them in production code more and more when
>> I
>> was at Key writing UIs and control systems for optical food sorting
>> equipment.
>>
>> Why not just use a method categories (protocols)? Because you can't quite
>> put enough information there to make them useful, and they're stuck with
>> just one category. You want simplicity and judicious application,
>> deferring
>> to good ol' messages as much as possible, but simple categories just don't
>> provide enough.
>>
>> 2) I push, at ever juncture I can, the term <tagged methods> and <method
>> tags>. The <tag> term grew on me for a set of reasons. Technically, they
>> result in "AnnotatedMethods", and one can call each item an "Annotation".
>> But that's a big long word, and using small short words always keeps
>> things
>> simpler. I also liked the harmony with the fact that we live in a world
>> dominated by <tag><markup><languages> and they're called tags there. Since
>> we were using roughly the same syntax, why not go with it? It's also
>> easier
>> to draw an icon that shows up next to methods for <tagged methods> than it
>> is for <annotated methods> (see attached pic).
>>
>> 3) You can get carried away with <method tags>. It's tempting to grow
>> little
>> micro-DSLs with these things. They don't scale well for that. They're far
>> from turing complete, and you're limited to literal objects. Best example
>> of
>> this is the nightmare that the method tags for menus were turning into VW.
>> I
>> wrote about this here:
>>
>> http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/userblogs/travis/blogView?showComments=true&printTitle=Menu_Items_Are_Objects_Too&entry=3354355944
>>
>> 4) History repeats itself, I think I wrote a post along these lines, about
>> 3+ years ago. I've slept since then tho, so I'm not sure.
>>
>> --
>> Travis Griggs
>> Objologist
>> "The best way to know you have a mind is to change it" -Judge Pierre Leval
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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