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Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchive
From: |
Bill Northcott |
Subject: |
Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too |
Date: |
Tue, 22 Aug 2006 10:39:44 +1000 |
On 21/08/2006, at 5:00 PM, Marcus G. Daniels wrote:
As a result Objective-C programmers obsessively test for nil if
there is any possibility that an object may not be available.
That seems to me a good habit that Swarm Objective-C programmers
should also cultivate.
Not really sure what kind of object is? Well, lucky you, you get
to write a bunch of code to adapt to all possible cases including
the one of no case at all and you get to conflate that signal
inside of the one that carries the real one as well. But wait, is
it the error signal even a real one? Why was there a nil object in
the first place? Perhaps nil is supposed be a placeholder for
some dead object in a fixed size thing? Or maybe it is just a
bug. My experience is that modelers are thinking about other
things and that it is usually a bug. Adding in a nil_method
function or a conditional is far safer than having messages simply
ignored silently.
Sorry, but I have no idea what that is supposed to mean.
I understand that MacOS X runtime compatibility and/or similarity
is a goal for you, but there are far bigger obstacles in your path
than this little thing. You've got to implement or ditch phases,
for example.
I am well aware of the difficulties, but I cannot see that as a
reason to put up more.
Swarm also does Java, and so here the underlying Objective C code
is just a means to an end. Java users will expect null pointer
exceptions.
Is this not the whole point? There exists a Java interface for
people who want/need the software to keep them on a tight leash
and sweep up behind. The downside is reduced functionality. That
is a basic trade-off in any computer language.
That's not the point. The Java interface was and is for people
that want to make Swarm simulations using that popular language
using it's popular tools and libraries. Having a Java virtual
machine, and vast Java libraries, opens up many more possibilities
than Objective C alone.
There are large and growing libraries of Objective-C code, do you not
think these are worth being able to access?
The `right' behavior for exception handling depends on your
perspective.
This is not a question of philosophically right. It is matter of
whether the thing works as documented. We say the language is
Objective-C but with this significant change to the behaviour of nil
it is no longer Objective-C but Marcus' Marvellous Language.
Bill
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, (continued)
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Scott Christley, 2006/08/16
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Marcus G. Daniels, 2006/08/16
- Message not available
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup:found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Paul Johnson, 2006/08/17
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup:found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Marcus G. Daniels, 2006/08/17
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup:found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Marcus G. Daniels, 2006/08/19
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Marcus G. Daniels, 2006/08/19
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Bill Northcott, 2006/08/20
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Marcus G. Daniels, 2006/08/20
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Bill Northcott, 2006/08/21
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Marcus G. Daniels, 2006/08/21
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too,
Bill Northcott <=
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Darren Schreiber, 2006/08/21
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Marcus G. Daniels, 2006/08/21
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Darren Schreiber, 2006/08/21
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Marcus G. Daniels, 2006/08/21
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Marcus G. Daniels, 2006/08/21
- Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-aroundfor missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Bill Northcott, 2006/08/28
Re: [Swarm-Support] Followup: found work-around for missing~/swarmarchiver.scm too, Marcus G. Daniels, 2006/08/20
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