A simple but intriguing analysing snippet

31 Dec 2001


      Hi
It is always fun to see how we can rapidly build some query to understand
better Smalltalk. 
The following script (which takes a while) sorts all the classes by the
number of instances they have in the image....The results are certainly
interesting for some of you.
Have fun
| classes classByInstanceNumber |
classes := OrderedCollection new: Metaclass instanceCount.
Object withAllSubclasses do: [:each |  (each isKindOf: Metaclass)
                                            ifFalse: [classes add: each ]].
classByInstanceNumber := SortedCollection sortBlock: [:a :b | a value> b
value].
    'Analysing...'
        displayProgressAt: Sensor cursorPoint
        from: 0 to: classes size
        during: [:bar |
                      classes
                            doWithIndex: [:each :i |
                                    classByInstanceNumber add: (each name ->
each instanceCount). bar value: i]].
    classByInstanceNumber inspect.
    classByInstanceNumber
I'm wondering why we do not have better analysis tools in Smalltalk. With
all this power available.
Stef