remote messaging loves #doesNotUnderstand:

At Deep Into Smalltalk at Lille in March Noury Bouraqadi presented a simple example of remote messaging. (The exampes are here http://car.mines-douai.fr/noury/docs ).

You have two images. One is a proxy; the other is the server. You send a message to the proxy and it appears on the Transcript of the server.

proxy := Proxy newOnPort: 5432.
proxy cr; show: 'This is my boomstick!'.

So you send a message to Proxy, which understands absolutely nothing. Zilch. It defaults to #doesNotUnderstand:, which captures the message as an instance of Message.

doesNotUnderstand: aMessage
    "Message answer is not handled!"
    | messageBytes |
    aMessage lookupClass: nil.
    messageBytes := ReferenceStream streamedRepresentationOf: aMessage.
    socketStream := SocketStream
        openConnectionToHostNamed: 'localhost'
        port: portNumber.
    socketStream isConnected ifFalse: [^nil].
    [socketStream sendCommand: messageBytes] ensure: [socketStream close].

You can see here that it is serialized by ReferenceStream, shot over the wire by SocketStream. It is de-serialized here in the server image:

dispatch: messageBytes
    | message |
    message := ReferenceStream unStream: messageBytes.
    message sendTo: Transcript      

The important part is the last line, which has the Message instance sent #sendTo: and so for all intents and purposed you have send this old standby:

Transcript show: 'This is my boomstick!'

except the Transcript is not yours; it's somebody else's.

Now let's look at Croquet/Qwaq FarRef>>#doesNotUnderstand: which has a class comment that says:

"I represent a reference to an object living on another island. When I receive a message I pass the message on to the object."

The class FarRef looks to me to be the same as Noury's Proxy: it understands no selectors; it uses a #doesNotUnderstand: override to capture the message; and, sends the message over the wire.

The implementation of #doesNotUnderstand: is not clear to me, so I'll stick to the class comment as my proof. Does Qwaq use ReferenceStream to serialize? I don't know.

In Spoon we have Other>>#doesNotUnderstand: which has this class comment:

"Each of my instances respresents an object in another memory, reachable through a NetStream. Messages sent to one of my instances are forwarded to the remote object, and another Other is answered."

It has #doesNotUnderstand: with a simple #forward: selector

    doesNotUnderstand: aMessage
    ^self forward: aMessage

and then:


    forward: aMessage
    "Forward aMessage to the remote object I represent, and answer the result."
    "This message was invoked by the virtual machine, in response to an attempt to send aMessage to me."

    "Transcript cr; print: aMessage; endEntry."
    ^(
        ReflectiveBehavior
            at: aMessage selector
            ifAbsent: [
                ^OutgoingMessageExchange
                    forward: aMessage
                    for: remoteIdentity
                    over: session]
    )
        value: session
        value: aMessage arguments

       
I think Craig may be familiar with the idea of a remote Transcript as he's included a class comment there that looks like Noury's simple program. The message gets passed to OutgoingMessageExchange. Does it use ReferenceStream to serialize? I don't know yet.

To conclude, each of these different programs creates a proxy that understands no selectors, but uses #doesNotUnderstand to glean the message. Thus captured it sends it to a remote receiver.

This is the beachhead I've needed to understand Spoon. I'll extend outward from this observation.

Chris
     

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Hi Chris--

     Sorry for the delay in responding to your messages, I'm getting
over a bad flu.

     Spoon normally doesn't use >>doesNotUnderstand:. Among the Spoon VM
changes is a modified method lookup routine, which treats proxies
specially, sending >>forward: directly. See
Interpreter>>lookupMethodInClass:.

     The minimal images (subject and history) have Smalltalk-level code
that takes advantage of that VM change. However, the headful image in
Spoon 3a3 (whose code you cited) uses an initial remote-messaging
adaptation for Squeak 4.2, that I wrote to be compatible with the stock
VMs. In retrospect, it wasn't worth the confusion; sorry about that.

     Spoon's remote messaging support doesn't use ReferenceStream to
serialize, it uses a minimal proxy-aware framework (with a bias toward
sending references, not copies). See class MessagingSession, and the
implementors of storeOnProxyStream:for: and storeOnProxyStream:.

     Thanks for bearing with me as I improve the class and method comments!


-C

--
Craig Latta
www.netjam.org/resume
+31   6 2757 7177
+ 1 415  287 3547

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