[squeak-dev] Re: SmalltalkImage current vs. Smalltalk

Andreas Raab andreas.raab at gmx.de
Wed Mar 3 17:18:14 UTC 2010


On 3/3/2010 5:57 AM, Nicolas Cellier wrote:
> 2010/3/3 Andreas Raab<andreas.raab at gmx.de>:
>> On 3/2/2010 10:14 PM, Michael Haupt wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Am 03.03.2010 um 03:41 schrieb Andreas Raab<andreas.raab at gmx.de>:
>>>>
>>>> Consequently I'm going to completely ignore any forward-looking
>>>> proposals and simply state that the current count is 3 votes for the
>>>> first variant (Phil, David, Bert) and 1 vote for the second variant
>>>> (Igor).
>>>
>>> here's another for "Smalltalk", then.
>>
>> That choice doesn't exist :-) You can vote for:
>>
>> a) Smalltalk class == SystemDictionary, or
>>
>> b) Smalltalk class == SmalltalkImage
>>
>> Cheers,
>>   - Andreas
>>
>>
>
> I vote for b).
>
> After discussing this with Stephane Ducasse, I quite agree on this scheme:
>
> SmalltalkImage should better be renamed System.
> System soleInstance = Smalltalk.
> Of course an optional bakward compatibility module would define
> SmalltalkImage current

The main thing this does is to create a *third* path that we'll have to 
support for eternity. I fail to see how "System soleInstance" is any 
better than "SmalltalImage current".

Seriously, if we want to move this stuff forward we should be starting 
by having a moratorium on adding new methods to the old places and 
rather discuss where *new methods* should live. This way we learn over 
some period what works and what doesn't and if we're happy with the 
outcome then we move a few more bits to those places. The approach of 
"let's just fix this problem once and forever" simply does not work here 
because the solution space is too big.

Concretely speaking, what would be alternative places for the cleanup 
methods that I just added, and why? Where would you expect them and why? 
If we have a good place we might start moving a few of the other 
housekeeping methods over there. To me, this is a much more fruitful 
direction than the above.

Cheers,
   - Andreas



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