[squeak-dev] replacing getSystemAttribute:

Nicolas Cellier nicolas.cellier.aka.nice at gmail.com
Sun Mar 7 16:43:03 UTC 2010


2010/3/7 keith <keith_hodges at yahoo.co.uk>:
>
> On 7 Mar 2010, at 16:09, Nicolas Cellier wrote:
>
> I did propose and publish:
> - vmPath for (getSystemAttribute: 0)
> - imagePath for (getSystemAttribute: 1)
> - documentPath for (getSystemAttribute: 2)
>
> Unfortunately, I broke things because the first too were already
> defined with a diferent semantic: return only the directory part, not
> the full path (as I would have understood).
> I stepped back, but still must fix #testWinVM3ButtonMousePreference.
> I'd like to get your opinion. I propose:
> - executableName
> - imageArgument
> - documentArgument
>
> Anything better ?
>
> Nicolas
>
> You dont need to do this, these are part of StartupManager's
> responsibility.
> Keith
>
>
Hi Keith,

By now, I want message getSystemAttribute: to get private because the
argument is cryptic, and implementation dependent.
We don't have to program with encoded numbers, but should rather use
verbs and noun, the Smalltalk way.
Otherwise, I would just say (aStream nextPut: 13) instead of (aStream
cr), (paragraph alignment: 2) instead of (paragraph alignment:
Justified).
The encoding of arguments shall still exist, but only at two places at most:
- 1 in the VM
- 1 in the image

Concerning the class where the access methods should be implemented,
one thing emerged from recent discussion: it shall better be
accessible thru the object representing the system - Smalltalk
- either directly,
- or indirectly, via a message indirection (Smalltalk commandLine for example).
Maybe StartupManager is just a client for the commandLine information,
or it's the natural implementor of these messages as the main consumer
(the only one?).
That's an implementation detail we can discuss.
Or do you mean there should not be any other client ?

Nicolas



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