[Cuis-dev] [RFC] Modules/Namespaces for Cuis

[Juan Vuletich]

On 9/30/2020 4:29 PM, Gerald Klix via Cuis-dev wrote:
>
> Hi all, Hi Juan,
>
> I looked at Ken's design and some (old) videos and came to the 
> conclusion, that Ken's package
> is a nice approach.
>
> However I do not like Ken's shared pool implementation and the lack of 
> means
> to define classes in environments.
>
> Currently I am trying to get rid of the shared pools by using 
> metaclasses. If this doesn't
> work I will use an external weak values dictionary, to store the 
> environment information
> of a "local" class.
>
> To define classes in environments, I am using the a method like this:
> #subclass:instanceVariableNames:classVariableNames:poolDictionaries:category:environment: 
>
> to define a class in an environment. I this needs a specialized 
> ClassBuilder that does the right thing.
> Nota bene: If you follow this approach with Ken's
> implementation as a basis, you will have to do
> the same.
>
> Here the problems start, for example I need to override
> ClassBuilder>>#privateNewSubclassOf: and
> ClassBuilder>>#privateNewSubclassOf:from: .
> In both methods I only need small changes, that are better factored 
> out into some methods that can be
> redefined in a specialized class builder.
>
> The same is probably true for
> SystemDictionary>>#at:put: and other methods
> after all it is the essence of this package,
> "local" classes are stored somewhere else.
> (IHMO changing all the places where #at:put: is
> used to manipulate the binding global variables
> to classes will be to tedious)
>
> *Juan, If I will refactor some classes like ClassBuilder, CodePackage, 
> SystemDictionary to make the implementation of environments easier,
> would these changes be accepted into Cuis' core?*
>

Yes. I want Cuis to be a good place for doing any kinds of experiments. 
Adding hooks for optional pluggable behavior is a big part of that.

Best if the refactor adds generality, hoping it would also be useful for 
people trying other approaches too.

>
> Best Regards,
>
> Gerald

Cheers,

-- 
Juan Vuletich
www.cuis-smalltalk.org
https://github.com/Cuis-Smalltalk/Cuis-Smalltalk-Dev
https://github.com/jvuletich
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-vuletich-75611b3
@JuanVuletich