[Vm-dev] Compact classes not in the compact array

[Igor Stasenko]

On 6 April 2012 18:37, Hans-Martin Mosner <hmm at heeg.de> wrote:
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> Am 06.04.2012 16:41, schrieb Guillermo Polito:
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> Hi!
>
> I was wandering what are the implications of a class being compact or not.
> And also what happens if a class has it's format thinking it's compact but
> it's not in the compact classes array?
>
> I'm looking at the implications of bootstrapping a smalltalk inside the
> same environment, and having two CompiledMethod classes, two Array classes,
> etc, brings me to this issue :).
>
> Thanks!
> Guille
>
> Compact classes must be in the compact classes array so their instances know their correct class.
> If you want to bootstrap an image inside another one, do it without compact classes.
> You can always add them later when needed (which is somewhat questionable, because their space-saving advantage has a corresponding speed disadvantage).
>

yes, basically you can "convert/copy" any compact class to non-compact
one. And construct a valid class object with methods etc.
Everything will be fine unless you want to also create and use
instances of such classes. Then you are in trouble.
So, as long as you can guarantee that you don't run any code with
those classes which involves instantiation,
there will be no problems.

> Cheers,
> Hans-Martin



-- 
Best regards,
Igor Stasenko.