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importers and extractors

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Tudor Girba-2

importers and extractors

Hi,

A while ago we had a discussion between the use of the importer and
extractor terms. In particular, Stef argued that the SmalltalkImporter
should be named SmalltalkExtractor to denote that we talk about source
code. I think it is useful to get a consensus around this topic.

I happen to have implemented recently a half a dozen importers for
various situations, and here is the current status of my understanding
of the meaning of terms:

- importer stands for creating a model out of some source that is
external to Moose. This can be source code in a file, an XML file, an
MSE file, or source code in Smalltalk. It is the importer that
contains the factory logic of creating and ensuring entities. This is
a simple meaning that can be communicated in a simple manner: "we
import the model from something"

- extractor stands for the dedicated logic of traversing the external
source. In most cases, the importer requires one or more extractors as
helpers to do the job. For example, the SmalltalkImporter requires the
SmalltalkMethodVisitor. The MSE importer is special, because it does
not have explicit factory methods, and thus it is one with the
extractor.

What do you think?

Cheers,
Doru

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www.tudorgirba.com

"Every thing has its own flow"
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abergel

Re: importers and extractors

So far, the term "importer" has not have disturbed me. For me, "extracting" implies getting a punctual piece of information, such as computing a metric or getting relations between some arbitrary elements. I think my understand is close to yours.

Cheers,
Alexandre

On Jan 8, 2013, at 7:31 AM, Tudor Girba <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> A while ago we had a discussion between the use of the importer and
> extractor terms. In particular, Stef argued that the SmalltalkImporter
> should be named SmalltalkExtractor to denote that we talk about source
> code. I think it is useful to get a consensus around this topic.
>
> I happen to have implemented recently a half a dozen importers for
> various situations, and here is the current status of my understanding
> of the meaning of terms:
>
> - importer stands for creating a model out of some source that is
> external to Moose. This can be source code in a file, an XML file, an
> MSE file, or source code in Smalltalk. It is the importer that
> contains the factory logic of creating and ensuring entities. This is
> a simple meaning that can be communicated in a simple manner: "we
> import the model from something"
>
> - extractor stands for the dedicated logic of traversing the external
> source. In most cases, the importer requires one or more extractors as
> helpers to do the job. For example, the SmalltalkImporter requires the
> SmalltalkMethodVisitor. The MSE importer is special, because it does
> not have explicit factory methods, and thus it is one with the
> extractor.
>
> What do you think?
>
> Cheers,
> Doru
>
> --
> www.tudorgirba.com
>
> "Every thing has its own flow"
> _______________________________________________
> Moose-dev mailing list
> [hidden email]
> https://www.iam.unibe.ch/mailman/listinfo/moose-dev

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Alexandre Bergel http://www.bergel.eu
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