> On 2021-03-28, at 4:09 AM, Thiede, Christoph <Christoph.Thiede at student.hpi.uni-potsdam.de> wrote:
> 
> @Tim:
> 
> > Far too like C.
> 
> Again, why please? :-) I'm not a big fan of C either, but IMO switch/select/case is not the worst concept when it allows you to eliminate some duplication. 

It (both C and caseOf*) has its uses but my practical issue with caseOf* in Smalltalk is that I keep (very subjective and personal experience dependant) seeing it get used in ways that completely sidestep Smalltalk and implement bad C idiom. A bit like isKindOf: and isBlahClass.

e.g.
foo class
	caseOf: {
		[Rabbit] -> [foo doRabbitThing].
		[Fox] -> [foo doFoxThing]}
... which of course merely (badly) replicates class lookup/inheritance/message-sending. It suggests a writer that cannot escape the mental prison of C-like assault coding.

isKindOf: is a useful meta-programming idiom that I've seen used inside inner loops to do the same sort of not-message-sending. I've even had people try to justify is on the grounds that "sending messages is so slow and I want ot avoid it", which is just nuts.

isBlahClass is almost as horrible but at least has the excuse of (hopefully) being part of a not yet completed cleaning of other nastiness.

Part of the problem is that language flexibility always ends up being a tool that lets annoying people write bad FORTRAN in any language. And then somebody has to spend a too large fraction of their life trying to fix it.

tim
--
tim Rowledge; tim at rowledge.org; http://www.rowledge.org/tim
Useful random insult:- Not enough sense to come in out of the rain.