> -----Original Message----- > From: Alex Blewitt [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, July 07, 2006 11:52 AM > To: harmony-dev@incubator.apache.org; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: Re: [classlib] compatibility of toString > > On 06/07/06, Geir Magnusson Jr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Alex Blewitt wrote: > > > IMNSHO I don't think we should by default copy the toString() > > > behaviour from the RI, unless mandated by the spec in JavaDoc. > > > > Ok. Good rant, and I agree with it, but I still don't see > a reason here > > why we shouldn't, other than to .... teach people a lesson? > > If people are relying on one implementation that's undocumented > behaviour, then it's bad code. It may well fail on any other system > (inc. embedded systems, or other OS, or even between different > versions).
No kidding. Welcome to the real world :) People do all sorts of stupid things. > > But the real reason is one of defense; how can you say that you've > implemented a clean-room version of the code from the spec, when all > the toString() results are identical with a proprietary implementation > that you have no way of knowing what the result should be, except by > running the propetary version to find out? Obviously, some cases it > will be obvious (e.g. we can guess what a java.net.URL looks like) but > in most cases it won't be (e.g. java.net.URLConnection). Because : 1) We are asking Sun about this, so it's clear we're bringing it up as an issue to them. 2) We try to get it from the RI via black-box, and if we can't, we can't and use our best judgement. > > I say that we follow the spec, and if the spec doesn't list an > explicit format, we use our own. If it is amazingly obvious (e.g. a > Point may be printed (1,2)) and it happens to correspond with the Sun > RI, then great, but we shouldn't be striving to be the same in all > cases. So if we are satisfied that it doesn't put us at risk from defense-of-cleanroom perspective, do you still have a problem if we at least try? Geir --------------------------------------------------------------------- Terms of use : http://incubator.apache.org/harmony/mailing.html To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
