[Help-smalltalk] Re: [RFC] Smalltalk scripting syntax

[Paolo Bonzini]

> I don't mind if you don't quote me in full, but chopping paragraphs in
> half is bound to lead to confusion.

Sorry, that was because I was already lost after the first part.

The original full paragraph was:

> I thought you might say that, but there's really no reason why you
> should insist on defining class instance variables in the class method
> scope. It's a nested scope, and Smalltalk has no inner classes, so
> there's no reason to treat it the same as the outer scope.

And now I see what you probably meant.  Did you mean
"defining class instance variables" instead of *class variables*
"in the class method scope"?

If so, there is a good reason, and it is that class variables
are misused 99% of the time.  Class variables are *global* variables
visible to a hierarchy and, as such, they should be used as little as
possible.  When implementing a singleton, for example, what you *really*
want is a uniqueInstance class-instance variable.

The name of class variables is all wrong.  I would call them "class pool
variables", or "class global variables", and I would say that "class-instance
variables" are the "real" class variables.

Class variables should be used mostly to include constant objects
(as was the case for pool dictionaries before they became a more general
"import namespace" mechanism), so, it makes sense to me to use a syntax
like this to define them:

    Class name: Character extends: Object [
        | value |
        ...

        Cr := Character value: 13.
        Lf := Character value: 10.
        Table := Character initializeConversionTable
    ]

This is similar to how you would write these initializations in a
Character class>>#initialize method.

In addition, it's not necessary that the class scope be a nested scope
(if this bothers you, please tell me).  You can perfectly well write:

    Class ref: Character class [
        del [ ^Character value: 127 ]
    ]

(I hope that, with "ref:" as the keyword, it is clearer that the correct
precedence is "Class ref: (Character class)" and not "(Class ref: Character)
class".  If you wish to suggest an alternate keyword, again, please do).

Paolo