If you have some way of uniquely identifying a method, then you can put the source wherever you like (e.g., in some other live object memory), and look it up when you need it. For an example, see the MethodID class in Spoon[1].
indeed. it is really unimportant where to store the method(s). They can be stored in file, remote DB or remote image.. But first we need to change the system to work in that way, by removing hardcoded SourceFiles everywhere and replacing with nice polymorphic source manager(s).
It's unimportant right up until you're not online. Please don't write systems that assume a reliable network! (Reply: "You can always cache source, and possibly supply a prepopulated cache, called a .sources file.")
Just for the record, the typical Spoon history memory resides locally, remote messages are just going to and from localhost. It snapshots itself after every change. -C -- Craig Latta www.netjam.org/resume +31 6 2757 7177 + 1 415 287 3547