Why do the Class Variables get sorted alphabetically?

Am 19.08.2015 um 18:58 schrieb Chris Cunningham:

I create a class with variables:

Object subclass: #ClassOrderExample

instanceVariableNames: 'a d e c b'

classVariableNames: 'A D E C B'

poolDictionaries: ''

category: 'Example'

(in that order, because that is the right order).

As soon as I save the class:

Object subclass: #ClassOrderExample

instanceVariableNames: 'a d e c b'

classVariableNames: 'A B C D E'

poolDictionaries: ''

category: 'Example'

Why?

Note that the instance variables aren't sorted.

(using 5.0 - not sure if that is relevant or not)

-cbc

instance variables are ordered (their order determines their inst var slot index, so Smalltalk can't just shuffle them around).
Class variables are keys in a Dictionary, so essentially unordered. To make it easier for users to find a given class variable in the definition, Smalltalk sorts them alphabetically (otherwise the order could change inexplicably when the Dictionary would be rehashed after a new one is inserted.)