Re: ObjectiveC accessors

[Marcel Weiher]

> and apply it as:
>
>     RACCESSORS(NSString *, rootObjectNames, RootObjectNames)
>     RACCESSORS(NSArray *, prototypes, Prototypes);
>     RACCESSORS(NSDictionary *, objects, Objects);

Looks good enough :-)

> However, I still need to write @interface method entries for both, 
> getter and setter,


idAccessor_h( var, setVar ) ?  Or maybe:   RACCESSORS_H( id , var, 
setVar )?

>  so I have to write it in: ivar list, @interface method list, and 
> @implementaion.

you forgot:

  - dealloc method
  - archiving/unarchiving
  - copying


>  And this is what I would like to avoid: to write single pattern on 
> three places.

Seven places ;-)

On the other hand, something like the way a header-file declaration 
works is pretty fundamental to how C works, and having stuff that 
automagically appears in both seems well outside the scope of C and a 
little extension.

> Speaking about retain/release being OpenStep specific. Why not to 
> include some kind of garbage collection into the language too?

GC and C semantics are incompatible at a fundamental level.  That 
doesn't mean you can't have GC at an application level, but doing it 
safely at the language level seems impossible.  Also, memory allocation 
isn't really at the language level, but at the library level.

> It is used in majority of sources. Of course, with appropriate library 
> hooks/callbacks, so one can implement custom GC method. I think it can 
> be done in some simple way.

At an application-specific level, yes, just add Boehm's conservative 
GC.  At a general library/language level:  not a good idea, and not 
really possible while preserving existing language semantics.

Marcel

--
Marcel Weiher                           Metaobject Software Technologies
address@hidden          www.metaobject.com
Metaprogramming for the Graphic Arts.   HOM, IDEAs, MetaAd etc.
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