Re: [RFC] Methods and functions

[Egeyar Bagcioglu]

Hi Jose,

> *** A couple of restrictions
>
>      Given the different nature of the variables, functions and methods, there
>      are a couple of restrictions:
>
>      a) Methods can't access variables and function defined in the struct type.
>
>         This is not gratuitous: when you think about the mapping/construction
>         process, you will note these variables and functions are locals to the
>         mapper/constructor, which has already been executed at the time we are
>         in the position to invoke a method!
>
>         If you try to access a variable or function defined inside a struct
>         method, you will get a nice "invalid reference to struct
>         {variable,function}" error message from the compiler.

I am not sure if I understand this correctly and I am very skeptic about 
what I understand.

We keep re-mapping structs, right? I tried the following to make sure it 
works:

(poke) deftype Packet3 = struct { byte magic = 0xab;   byte size; defvar 
real_size = (size == 0xff ? size - 0xff : size + 0x0); byte[real_size] 
payload; };
(poke) defvar packet3 = Packet3 @ 0#B
(poke) packet3
Packet3 {magic=171UB,size=2UB,payload=[99UB,100UB]}
(poke) packet3.size = 10
(poke) packet3
Packet3 
{magic=171UB,size=10UB,payload=[99UB,100UB,101UB,102UB,103UB,104UB,105UB,106UB,97UB,98UB]}


Here, the only connection between the size and the payload is 
real_size.  I am glad to see that the payload is still updated when we 
change the size.

Still, though, I do not get why we cannot access variables and functions 
of a struct within its method. They are already defined when we have the 
methods. Is this really as gratuitous?

Thanks
Ege