[squeak-dev] Replacing Transcript>>#show: by Keith' logging considered harmful

Edgar J. De Cleene edgardec2001 at yahoo.com.ar
Sun Jul 5 18:03:26 UTC 2009




On 7/4/09 11:41 AM, "Klaus D. Witzel" <klaus.witzel at cobss.com> wrote:

> Keith,
> 
> I understand your response but would like to make clear some of the
> obvious consequences. Let's say that the Kitchen Sinkers Guild[tm]
> registers interest in your logging and attempts to replace
> Transcript>>#show: by your work.
> 
> They first start with (Smalltalk at: #Transcript put: ProtoObject
> basicNew) because they always wanted to try out what happens then. After
> the huge outcry in the community they then know that they got all possible
> attention and change that to (Smalltalk at: #Transcript put: KeithLogging
> basicNew) initialize. Of course they implement the old Transcript protocol
> in class KeithLogging as convenience methods. So things get released :)
> 
> Then after a while, people complain that every time they do world ->
> windows -> find a transcript, that KeithLogging no longer works :( This
> report creates a flood of reponses from people asking to protect world
> menu from unauthorized changes and Seldom On Board members have to step in
> and assign to a team the responsibility for reorganizing world menu
> access. The new team proposes something based on Spoon's imprinting
> mechanism but un-fortunately have to postpone implementation because of
> lack of time of some of their members :(
> 
> But in one of their messages, the world menu access team forgot to scrub
> the DS acronym and another guy chims in and (unwillingly, as usual) starts
> a debate on refactoring world menu access with DeltaStream recording,
> because then his streams can be distributed to other forks as well. He's
> not sure if 80% of the needs are covered but suggests to give it a try
> anyways. This guy talks soo often about itches and scratches that some
> lurkers begin to reveal their identity in squeak-dev and begin with
> voicing their concerns about the Scratch user interface, and that
> Smalltalk is probably doomed if nothing will ever be done against the
> wrong colors and unchangable buttons in Scratch.
> 
> This all creates such deluge of messages in squeak-dev that Seldom On
> Board members get really concerned and make a new announcement: that the
> community server has been, already and successfully, moved over to an
> iPhone, and that Squeak community is the first online community running
> all their community services on a single iPhone.
> 
> When asked what that would be good for (except the fame and fun of it) the
> Seldom On Board members suddenly arrange for another unplanned meeting and
> write up a manifesto which declares that now the rest of the world can get
> an iPhone contract *together* with Squeak community membership, and that
> that is the obvious way for inventing the future.
> 
> Meanwhile the world menu access team has hacked up some methods but due to
> incompatability with the new iPhone community server (or was it the iPhone
> shop policy) the project is abandoned :(
> 
> After a long period during which the world -> windows -> find a transcript
> problem got no attention at all, someone contributes a method which asks
> the user what s/he really wants: a Transcript or the KeithLogging
> instance. Without any further debate this gets released.
> 
> -------
> 
> Keith, I hope that in the above you can easily see that your proposal is
> infeasible. Sorry for no better news.
> 
> /Klaus
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it".
> Albert Einstein
> 

I very enjoy this.
I vote for better mail of the month :=)

Edgar
> 






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