Paul Fisher wrote:
>
> "Aaron M. Renn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> > Paul was supposed to contact them to see if we could use it rather
> > than rewriting it, which is why the status of that package is kind
> > of a mess right now. Paul?
>
> Stuart Ballard suggested that we not use SableUtil. There's no need
> to rewrite it, since we already have as much functionality as they do.
> Collections should be finished RSN, or at least that was the last I
> heard from Stuart.
That's not strictly true I'm afraid. Here is the status, for anyone
interested:
SableUtil appeared to only have Collections implemented, and wasn't
completely in line with the Java spec. It had considerably more stuff
than we did/do, but only two classes that _are actually part of the
spec_ that we didn't/don't. That's why I suggested that it probably
wasn't worth it if the paperwork was complicated (which I understood
that it was).
To describe the status of my Collections work, I'll explain what
Collections consists of, for people who don't know (I have no idea what
proportion of people will know or not, so I'll just do a brief
overview). Basically there are 4 parts:
1) A group of interfaces which define the various sorts of collection
(Collection, List, Set, Map etc).
2) "Abstract" implementations of the interfaces which omit only the
parts particular to a specific implementation. For example, AbstractList
can be subclassed to create either an array-backed list like a Vector or
a linked list.
3) Some useable actual implementations, such as LinkedList, TreeMap,
etc, to save re-inventing the wheel for common data structures.
4) A couple of utility classes providing a bridge between collections
and arrays, sorting and searching of collections, and various other
miscellaneous stuff.
My collections work has been pretty much on hold since the last version
that went in CVS many moons ago. The current status is that (1) is
complete code-wise but has no doc-comments as yet, because writing
doc-comments for interfaces is hell, (2) is approx. 75% complete, (3)
isn't started, and (4) is approx. 50% complete.
I've just got to a point where I should be able to devote some time to
classpath again, and my initial target is to get (1), (2) and (4) all up
to full compliance with 1.2b4, hopefully by mid oct, when real life will
interfere again. I may make an exception and code Vector before doing
that lot, because it's fairly easy and used by a lot of code. Hashtable
ought to be done too, but the abstract class that Hashtable sits on top
of isn't done either, so that's more work.
I hope that clarifies the status of the work I'm doing. As far as the
rest of java.util goes, it's probably best if someone else takes that on
- I'm perfectly willing to have a go at quite a lot of it, but after
this month, I probably won't have much time until at least the end of
the year, and I expect that others could have the package completed by
then. The only reason I'm holding on to doing the collections stuff is
that as a 1.2 feature, it isn't such an urgent priority.
Feel free to overrule me though if I'm holding up development.
HTH,
Stuart.
