[squeak-dev] Re: Environment's #classNamed:

Chris Muller asqueaker at gmail.com
Sun Dec 22 18:16:49 UTC 2013


Yes, I had already gone back and read that several days ago when I
made the decision to finally get into Environments.  That thread is a
gem for getting started understanding Environments.

Colin, Environments is exactly how I think the namespace problem
should be solved -- I see it as dynamic renames during loading time
(vs. a grand global namespace like Java).  Kudos for bringing this to
life.

What still remains a mystery (for me) is why we need this extra
complication -- e.g., why can't I simply _import_ from other
Environments.  Instead, I can only import from other Environments what
I've declared as their _exports_.

This does not seem to be in the spirit of Smalltalk -- having to
"declare" the class-API's before I can use them.  I have to keep these
two things "in-sync" with each other:  An Environments exports with
the other environments imports.

It reminds me somewhat of static-typing in that it's simply a "chore"
I have to do for the satisfaction of the computer but no real benefit
(that I can identify) for the developer...

On Sat, Dec 21, 2013 at 6:53 PM, Colin Putney <colin at wiresong.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 3:04 PM, Chris Muller <asqueaker at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> And, also, let me pose an additional question:  Why do we need
>> 'exports' at all?  The use-case we're solving is name-disambiguation,
>> period.  Exports seems to be about making certain classes
>> "unimportable", e.g., "private".
>>
>> Why are exports needed at all?
>
>
> Name disambiguation is *one* of the use cases. Private classes is another
> one. I'd really like to be able to set up an Xtreams environment properly.
> See the discussion on Xtreams here:
> http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2012-June/164605.html
>
>
>


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