In SBE we pay extreme attention between message and methods. You send messages, execute a method.
> Adrian Kuhn wrote: >> Martin McClure <mar...@...> writes: >> >>> Actually, I usually do prefer to use first person when writing Smalltalk >>> comments. I find that anthropomorphizing objects helps to think in an >>> object-oriented way. >> >> Thanks everyone for all the answers so far! >> >> One of the things that keep confusing me is whether the I refers to the >> class, >> the object or (in a method comment) to the method or even the method >> activation? For example in Randal's example, there it is the the behavior >> *class* speaking in first person. Whereas to my understanding in >> *object*-oriented programming the objects should talk be first person (not >> the >> classes). >> >> Even more confusing, I have also seen comments where the it was the object or >> the methods. Or most confusing, an amalgamation of both, as eg in "I return >> my >> first element" where to be precise the method activation returns the first >> element of the object. So shouldn't it either be "(When activiated) Returns >> my >> first element" or "I return the first element of my reciever"? >> >> This is not an academic example. When I started to write comments for SUnit, >> I >> got actually confused. When writing (instance/class) methods comments, to >> whom >> does the "I" refer to? >> > > Good points. Existing comments are not always consistent. > > In my opinion, "I" should always refer to an object. Which object? > "Self" within the current context. In an instance-side method comment, > "I" is the receiver of the message. In a class-side method comment, "I" > is the class. In a class comment, it's a little less clear, but probably > "I" should be the class in that case. > > I'd probably write the above example imperatively, something like > "Answer my first element". > > In Smalltalk, I also tend to prefer "answer" over "return", and I tend > to talk about "messages" instead of "methods" unless explicitly dealing > with method objects. > > Regards, > > -Martin > > _______________________________________________ > Pharo-project mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.gforge.inria.fr/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pharo-project _______________________________________________ Pharo-project mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gforge.inria.fr/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pharo-project
