On 1/9/06, Andreas Raab <andreas.raab at gmx.de> wrote:
> Does anyone out there has the same feeling that I get when things get
> added to basic? That they essentially get cast in amber, almost
> impossible to change and *definitely* impossible to remove "because it
> breaks X"?

You are right. It is something we should watch out for. Basic should
be more Basic on every release (modulo enhancements - I think Traits
is an enhancement to the core of Squeak and I really hope that we'll
find more of these gems. Some things are part of the language
definition so they are rightly cast in amber, I think).

I'm quite close to concluding that (something like) Spoon might be the
only way out here.

Note that this problem isn't unique. Look at the development of the
size of the Linux kernel source tree, for starters. We're just better
equipped - at least that is what we're telling the world all the time
- so we should be able to combat it better.