On Removing Methods

Bob Arning arning at charm.net
Tue Jun 20 11:08:21 UTC 2000


Hi Karl,

On Tue, 20 Jun 2000 12:56:59 +1000 Karl Goiser <squeak at wattle.net> wrote:
>> It's interesting that this should come up - I had something to do with the
>> origin of BobsUI and I was the one who put the halt into the method you
>> encountered.
>
>Is this some kind of subtle check on your behalf to see who's using your
>code?   :-)  Me!  And it is very interesting!  Thanks Bob!

I knew the change I made would break things, although in a relatively easy to fix way. The interesting thing is that the breakage probably includes all of my offline stuff. The benefit you mention really did not occur to me. ;-)

>> I have also recently seen things removed from the image on which
>> some of my out-of-image code depended. Thus I find myself on all sides of the
>> issue. It would be nice if there were a cost-free solution, but I just don't
>> know what it is. For Squeak to grow in interesting new ways, it is almost
>> inevitable that some old things will break. This is one of those cases.
>
>
>I agree with what you have said.  I guess I was really just sounding a
>warning against changes to the image that may affect other people's code (or
>your own).
>
>Maybe you "deprecate" methods, like in Java (he says ducking for cover)?
>You could say that a particular class or method would be removed in version
>3.5, for example, then nobody would complain... well, maybe.  New behaviour
>could then be placed in a new method.

Personally, I think that's just what the alpha release stage is - an announcement that things are changing. People with an interest in the future of Squeak will also tend to be those making contributions, experimenting with these changes and offering feedback or critiques. Though the process may be a bit chaotic at times, I think it will converge on good solutions fairly quickly. What's the alternative? Maybe a Squeak Standards Committee? Six months of abstract debate over the viability of some change? I hope it doesn't come to that for Squeak would certainly become a less interesting and dynamic place.

Thanks for bringing this issue up.

Cheers,
Bob





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