What is NextVariableCheckTime  used for? Is it that there is no active
use of it anymore?

--Hannes

On 10/26/13, David T. Lewis <lewis at mail.msen.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 25, 2013 at 10:58:49PM +0000, commits at source.squeak.org wrote:
>>
>> Item was changed:
>>   Object subclass: #DeepCopier
>>   	instanceVariableNames: 'references uniClasses newUniClasses'
>> + 	classVariableNames: ''
>> - 	classVariableNames: 'NextVariableCheckTime'
>>   	poolDictionaries: ''
>>   	category: 'System-Object Storage'!
>
> One thing that I find rather appealing about Squeak is that its stew of
> living objects contains things that have existed since before my time.
> Even if the so-called "code" changes, the objects still can survive.
>
> Every once in a while this turns out to have some practical benefit. For
> example, the class DeepCopier had a class variable that kept track of some
> sort of time stamp (in the form of NextVariableCheckTime seconds). Some
> time in an earlier millenium, a primeval user of the class had set this
> variable, then wandered off into a tar pit. We do not really know who that
> may have been, but the original object (class DeepCopier) has survived in
> the image, and the last updated value of its NextVariableCheckTime has
> remained undisturbed since those early days. Thus when I became curious
> about whether this class variable was being used, I was able to look at
> its value and convert it to a DateAndTime to see that it had not been
> updated in the last dozen years or so.
>
> It's a small thing, but just try keeping track of that with a version
> control system.
>
> Dave
>
>
>