dissertation statement validation - runtime class definition manipulation
On 2013-06-02 08:01, btc@openinworld.com wrote:
I hope you guys don't mind, but in writing my dissertation and there is no one local with Smalltalk experience to double-check some statements that I'm making. Over the next few weeks I'd like to bounce a few off the list, mainly for a simple "thats not right". For the first....
"In languages like C++ and Java the class definition is just text in a file that is compiled into a runtime, and the class definition _cannot_ be defined or changed by that runtime. In Smalltalk you develop from inside the runtime image, so the runtime manipulate the class definition like any other object of the system."
So what I want to check is that is it true to say you can't do that with C++ and Java ?
I don't know about C++ but for Java there are libraries like CGLib[1] or ASM[2] that can manipulate/generate classes/interfaces at runtime. However the operation is not even remotely like editing code! It's writing code to change or generate the bytecode. [1] http://cglib.sourceforge.net/ [2] http://asm.ow2.org/ -- Bahman Movaqar (http://BahmanM.com) ERP Evaluation, Implementation, Deployment Consultant
On Jun 2, 2013, at 5:48 AM, Bahman Movaqar <Bahman@BahmanM.com> wrote:
On 2013-06-02 08:01, btc@openinworld.com wrote:
I hope you guys don't mind, but in writing my dissertation and there is no one local with Smalltalk experience to double-check some statements that I'm making. Over the next few weeks I'd like to bounce a few off the list, mainly for a simple "thats not right". For the first....
"In languages like C++ and Java the class definition is just text in a file that is compiled into a runtime, and the class definition _cannot_ be defined or changed by that runtime. In Smalltalk you develop from inside the runtime image, so the runtime manipulate the class definition like any other object of the system."
So what I want to check is that is it true to say you can't do that with C++ and Java ?
I don't know about C++ but for Java there are libraries like CGLib[1] or ASM[2] that can manipulate/generate classes/interfaces at runtime. However the operation is not even remotely like editing code! It's writing code to change or generate the bytecode.
yes we can that too. Now in Smalltalk modifying first class object representing the system itself is part of the core of the system
-- Bahman Movaqar (http://BahmanM.com) ERP Evaluation, Implementation, Deployment Consultant
participants (3)
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Bahman Movaqar -
btc＠openinworld.com -
Stéphane Ducasse