Wow so much work to add an instance variable ?

In python is as simple as

MyClass.newVariable = 30

I always assumed Pharo was very similar.



On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 10:55 AM, Clément Bera <[email protected]>wrote:

> Basically here we discuss how to introduce in Pharo stateful class
> extension and stateful traits. I like these features a lot because it means
> I would be able to reuse the same class differently depending on the
> context and the surrounding classes. But if we overuse that we will
> definitely go into chaos. Martin tried in Mist and he concluded that he
> should have class composition instead of stateful traits / class extension.
>
> For now the common way to add extra instance variable is: you add an extra
> instance variable named 'properties' in the main class which needs to be
> committed on the other package, then in the class extension you initialize
> this varable lazily to a dictionary, and to use extra instance variable,
> you store/read them in the properties dictionary by overriding the
> getter/setter method. You can look at the refactoring browser AST which is
> implemented like that. This way is nice because it is easily optimizable by
> slots (even if we have not done it yet) and you only add 1 instance
> variable to the main class whereas you can add an infinite number of
> instance variables.
>
> Best,
>
>
> 2013/10/31 Tudor Girba <[email protected]>
>
>> I completely disagree with this point of view :).
>>
>> We should assume an open world, not a close one. From this point of view,
>> any part of the system should be extensible by anyone. In most other
>> languages I know, it is not even possible to extend easily a class with new
>> functionality. In Pharo we can, and we know it is a powerful mechanism. It
>> is not the responsibility of the base class to know what extensions are out
>> there and protect against them. Just like with subclassing, It is in the
>> responsibility of the extender.
>>
>> We should be able to do the same with state as well. Without this
>> mechanism, we are forced to put in place clunky dictionary-based mechanism
>> to support state extension. Essentially, any white-box framework does that.
>> For example, Morphic does that, FAMIX and Roassal do that, too (and yes,
>> this is not a bad thing).
>>
>> We need this mechanism in the environment, and if I understand Slots
>> correctly, now we have first class support for it. This also means that
>> overrides will be easier to deal with, too. Of course, overrides can induce
>> headaches from time to time, but we should treat these headaches with
>> proper tools, not by forbidding the world to extend.
>>
>> And if we are at it, we should also be able to extend a class with
>> Traits, too.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Doru
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 10:54 PM, Camillo Bruni 
>> <[email protected]>wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On 2013-10-30, at 22:36, Igor Stasenko <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>> > I don't think there's something to fix.
>>> > You cannot 'extend' classes belonging to other package in any other way
>>> > than adding extension methods.
>>> > Allowing extension of ivars or any other vars by foreign package
>>> > is road to nowhere.
>>> >
>>> > I would not like if shape of my kernel classes depends on what
>>> packages i load
>>> > or in what order i loaded them.
>>> > To me it is clear that if one needs to add/remove/modify instance
>>> variables
>>> > of some class, those changes should belong to the package containing
>>> that class,
>>> > not some random package.
>>>
>>> Exactly, it would cause the same problem as we have with overrides in
>>> monticello
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> www.tudorgirba.com
>>
>> "Every thing has its own flow"
>>
>
>

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