Re: question about activateIn:

[Marcus G. Daniels]

>>>>> "PJ" == Paul Johnson <address@hidden> writes:

PJ> 1.  I don't know what to say about the [super activateIn:
PJ> swarmContext] command.  I've seen the tutorial material on it, of
PJ> course, but it still is difficult to explain why the super is
PJ> called to do anything here.  What would you say about it.

In the case of heatbugs, the containing ObserverSwarm needs to have a
data structure for merging the model events and the display update
events into a single time sequence.  The first call to activateIn:
prepares to impose an objective temporal context for the ModelSwarm
and the display update schedule.

PJ> 2.  I am at a loss to understand why all these swarm models have
PJ> return [self getActivity].  There's no receiver doing anything
PJ> with the activity it gets. The model compiles and runs fine with
PJ> return self.  What's up with that?

Well, activateIn: is documented to return an activity.  

http://www.santafe.edu/projects/swarm/swarmdocs/refbook/swarm.activity.actiontype.protocol.html

Because this is the intent, you can expect that we will write things
in Swarm to depend on that behavior of activateIn:.  If you choose to
write activateIn: according a different API of your liking (breaking
the Sacred Contract Between User and Implementor) you can expect
undefined results from the activity library.

PJ> 3.  Also, would anybody care to put some words down on what comes
PJ> back when you tell something to getActivity?

http://www.santafe.edu/projects/swarm/swarmdocs/refbook/swarm.activity.activity.protocol.html

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