Hi,

I am trying to figure out where to best place some mapping/data/stable methods.

For example imagine method
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MyRectangle>>oppositeSides
    ^ { #top -> #bottom.
#bottom -> #top.
#topLeft -> #bottomRight
....
} asDictionary
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And then the class might have some other related methods such as
~~~~~~~~~~~
MyRectangle>>oppositeSideFor: aSide
    ^ self oppositeSides at: aSide
~~~~~~~~~~~~

So it's a method returning a mapping between opposite sides/corners and thus is really not going to change.
Now I could place this in instance-side and create a new instance every time I wanted to use it (which doesn't seem practical), or I could put it in class-side.
The problem I have with class-side is that naming is more like going through minefield (more than once I corrupted my image by naming a method or variable something I shouldn't have), and for whatever reason it feels like either metaprogramming or procedural programmming... That class side methods are pretty much global functions/variables... and short of constructors I am avoiding static methods even in other languages... but maybe using it is ok. Or maybe have it object an use singleton?

The only oop-like approach I see would be to extend symbols (#top oppositeSide), or have separate objects for sides, but that seems like overkill.

MySide subclass: #Top

Top>>oppositeSide
    ^ Bottom new

Are there any best practices regarding this? This is also true for actual data stored in methods/attributes (such as icons).

P.s.: For english natives... Should the second method be ned "oppositeSideOf:" or "oppositeSideFor:"?

Any ideas/pointers appreciated,
Peter