Sean Malloy wrote:
> 1) What is the point of using Class categories? You can't search by them,
> you can't filter using them. You can't use them, except to assign an
> object to a category, or create a category. Is it just me, or is it
> useless?
Largely useless, yes. OA feel (and I agree with them) that packages make a
more useful way of clustering and filtering classes. The class categories are
only for compatibility with other Smalltalks that use them. (And, I suppose,
the convenience of any users who want to add IDE features that do use them.)
(Actually there are a couple of places where the IDE makes real use of the
class categories -- for instance the only LayoutManager subclasses that show up
as choices in the View Composer are those that are in class category:
'MVP-Layout Managers-General'. But those uses seem rather anomalous to me,
probably just historical holdovers.)
> 2) It seems a lot of methods are just wrappers into the Windows API. Has
> this been done for performance? For easier translation to other languages?
You're probably looking at it the wrong way around ;-) One of the points of
Dolphin is to allow you to use the Windows API (and other code written in
external DLLs). Since there's lots of useful stuff in such DLLs, there are
lots of methods that allow you to use them. We users also add interfaces to
external libraries -- it's one of the easier ways of getting access to complex
facilities ("don't re-invent the wheel" and all that).
There's also the point that Dolphin is based on Windows, but written mostly
*in* Dolphin, so part of what you are seeing is the underpinnings of the
implementation. This may make more sense if you contrast it with other
Smalltalk implementations like VW where a lot of the Windows implementation (or
Unix or whatever) is "hidden" inside the VM. Both are valid design approaches
depending on how much cross-platform consistency is important to the product.
> 3) How can I get the class browser to save my preferences?
From the class browser, you can open the Tools=>Options=>Inspect menu item
which allows you to set some preferences (including both the ones you
mentioned). The complete list of configurable options for all tools (that are
configurable from the GUI at all) is under the same menu option of the 'System
folder'.
> 4) Is Dolphin 6 going to get an update to the documentation.
No idea. I hope so....
> 5) Is it still a requirement to modify the VM to get Seaside like
> continuations to work?
I don't know about Seaside, but the Continuation class>factorialExample: works
OK in my image, which has not been patched specifically for Continuations, so I
assume so.
> 6) Is it just me, or does the ServerSocket>>#connectedAccepted event not
> fire when a connection is accepted?
I think it's just you ;-) The following works for me in a workspace:
"set up a server socket"
server := ServerSocket port: 8333.
"hacky way to see if events are working"
handler := [:sock | Transcript display: sock; cr. sock close].
server when: #connectionAccepted: send: #value: to: handler.
"wait for a connection in the background"
[server accept] fork.
"now connect to
http://localhost:8333/ from a web browser.
you should see something like
a Socket(123)
in the Transcript"
"clean and tidy..."
server close.
(But I would normally use the value returned from #accept rather than watching
events -- a matter of personal taste and the differing needs of different
applications, I suppose.)
-- chris
Locked
