Re: [Swarm-Modelling] Something Glen said

[Marcus G. Daniels]

glen e. p. ropella wrote:
> And I also agree that Objective-C (and Swarm's
> idioms but not the current software) is a better foundation for future
> ABM work than Java or .NET.
>   
I don't agree with this.  When I say this,  I am not saying that the 
path to a glorious future ought to involve the current Swarm software.  
I'm saying that if Objective C is desired, and considered necessary for 
sufficient flexibility in modeling, then we might as well update, 
refactor, extend the current software as it is still in maintainable 
shape.  Objective C is now back from the dead thanks to Apple, so we 
could contemplate making changes to Swarm to use its runtime instead of 
the embedded one.

This talk of object evolution, to the extent it is actually crucial to 
facilitate modeler productivity, is not hinged on use of a dynamic 
language like Objective C.  It's common in many programming environments 
to have reflection (the ability to programmatically look over the stuff 
in a running program), and that's all that's really needed to have 
dynamism (as is done in Swarm for Java).

I'd say if we want to break free, we should do take some time to study 
modeling and computer science literature.  Objective C is a fine 
language, but hardly the state of the art. 

Also, I think it is a mistake to ignore the ways the .NET CLR and Java 
JVM may advance in near future.  C#, for example, is adding advanced 
features a rapid pace and the JVM Hotspot virtual machine is very highly 
studied engineerring, and software that is now GPLed.  All kinds of 
innovations are possible, the Swarm community could even contribute to them.