Traits prototype image

Nathanael Schärli n.schaerli at gmx.net
Tue Feb 4 18:22:33 UTC 2003


> In section 11 of the Tutorial you talk about displaying a 
> tree structure for deeply nested sub-traits. Since traits can 
> be "flattened" conceptually, couldn't you avoid the tree structure?

Well, it is true that traits can always be flattened and therefore you
don't need such a tree view in order to understand the code. However,
sometimes it is very useful to look at the code in a "compositional
view"

Let's say you are browsing the class ColoredCircle. By default, the
browser shows it in a flat way and you don't need to worry whether it is
built by using traits at all. However, the browser should indicate, that
this class is actually built from traits and it should allow you to see
more details by clicking on something like the (+) icon of the tree
widget. Then, you can see all the traits (e.g., TCircle, TColor) the
class uses. In order to be consistent, the browser should now also
indicate, that the trait TCircle is built as a composition of multiple
traits. Then, the user can, if he wants, again click on the (+) icon of
the widget and see the details (i.e., traits TMagnitude and TGeometry).
Etc.

The current browser only shows one nesting level. This means that for
the class ColoredCircle, you see the traits TCircle and TColor. If you
want to see more, you need to go to the definition of these subtraits.

This means that there is a "compositional view", but its depth is
limited to 2. I think it should be unlimited...

Nathanael

> -----Original Message-----
> From: squeak-dev-bounces at lists.squeakfoundation.org 
> [mailto:squeak-dev-bounces at lists.squeakfoundation.org] On 
> Behalf Of Doug Mair
> Sent: Dienstag, 4. Februar 2003 19:04
> To: The general-purpose Squeak developers list
> Subject: Re: Traits prototype image
> 
> 
> Very impressive work.
> 
> In section 11 of the Tutorial you talk about displaying a 
> tree structure for deeply nested sub-traits. Since traits can 
> be "flattened" conceptually, couldn't you avoid the tree structure?
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Nathanael Schärli" <n.schaerli at gmx.net>
> To: <squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 8:37 AM
> Subject: Traits prototype image
> 
> 
> > Hi
> >
> > I finally released a first version of our trait prototype 
> image. More 
> > information can be found at:
> >
> > 
> http://www.iam.unibe.ch/>
~schaerli/smalltalk/traits/traitsPrototype.htm
> >
> > There, you can also read more about our future plans and 
> why there is 
> > no changeset available yet.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Nathanael
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 



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