Self-interest October 1991

self-interest@lists.selflanguage.org

7 participants
7 discussions

Upcoming Self release
by Randall.Smith＠Eng.Sun.COM 08 Nov '91

08 Nov '91

As many of you know, the Self group (now housed at Sun Microsystems Labs) is planning a new release of the system. This is to let you know that we are working on the release, and hope it will be ready in a couple of months. Available with the release will be a humongous pile (50k lines +) of poorly documented C++ source code, implementing the Self virtual machine. San Francisco Bay Area residents: we will hold a half-day Self tutorial at Sun soon after the release. It will be essentially the same as the (top rated!) tutorial given at ECOOP last July.

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Re: inner methods
by David.Ungar＠Eng.Sun.COM 27 Oct '91

27 Oct '91

> From owner-self(a)self.stanford.edu Sun Oct 27 14:10:36 1991 > Return-Path: <jecel(a)lsi12.lsi.usp.br> > Date: Sat, 26 Oct 91 14:28:33 EDT > To: self-interest(a)self.stanford.edu > Subject: inner methods > Content-Length: 545 > X-Lines: 18 > > I can't see what is the purpose of inner methods. For example, in : > > _AddSlotsIfAbsent: ( | imTests = () | ). > > imTests _Define: ( | > test1: a And: b = ( a * b * b ). > test2: a And: b = ( ( a * b ) * b ). > | ). > > Both test1 and test2 do exactly the same thing, but test2's structure > at the bytecode level is more complex. If fact, for inner methods with > no local slots, I believe you can always "inline" the inner method's > bytecodes. > > Since inner methods with local slots are rare ( I think ), do we > really need them ? > > - Jecel > Well, yes and no. It's nice to know that you can walk up to any method, see: . . . <some-message> ... and replace it with ... (|t| doAnythingFirst. t: <some-message>. doAnythingAfter: t. t) ... This might be nice for debugging, for example. Also, inner methods make the language more elegant (to our eyes). Of course, they do waste space. And many languages (C, PASCAL, FORTRAN, COBOL) get along fine without them. Dave

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inner methods
by jecel＠lsi12.lsi.usp.br 26 Oct '91

26 Oct '91

I can't see what is the purpose of inner methods. For example, in : _AddSlotsIfAbsent: ( | imTests = () | ). imTests _Define: ( | test1: a And: b = ( a * b * b ). test2: a And: b = ( ( a * b ) * b ). | ). Both test1 and test2 do exactly the same thing, but test2's structure at the bytecode level is more complex. If fact, for inner methods with no local slots, I believe you can always "inline" the inner method's bytecodes. Since inner methods with local slots are rare ( I think ), do we really need them ? - Jecel

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Re: processes
by Urs Hoelzle 23 Oct '91

23 Oct '91

> The manual is unclear about whether multiple processes can be created in V1.1. > It claims "only limited functionality". Can I create, by any hack, multiple > processes? > Yes, you can; see the scheduler code and prompt.self for some examples. The "limited functionality" (p. II-10) refers to the Self-level objects: Self 1.1 does not actually use processes, but they do indeed exist (and work). The process primitives are described on p. I-43 in the manual. The next release uses processes to a fair degree, for example in the UI. The Self code to handle processes and scheduling has changed quite a bit, but the basic VM functionality is essentially the same. -Urs

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processes
by djm＠jupiter.risc.rockwell.com 23 Oct '91

23 Oct '91

The manual is unclear about whether multiple processes can be created in V1.1. It claims "only limited functionality". Can I create, by any hack, multiple processes? Thanks. -Dave Morley David Morley Rockwell International Science Center Box 1085 Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 805-373-4584 djm(a)risc.rockwell.com

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OOPSLA Birds-of-a-Feather Session on SELF
by John.Maloney＠Eng.Sun.COM 01 Oct '91

01 Oct '91

Folks: We are planning to hold a Birds-of-a-Feather session at OOPSLA next week for those currently using or interesting in using the Self language. The proposed time is Tuesday evening; check the bulletin boards at the conference for the final time and location. We would like to get a rough idea of how many of you are interested in attending. (This doesn't mean you are committed to coming, just that you'll come if it works out.) If you have a particular topic you'd like to submit for discussion, please mention it in your reply. Please reply to me, not the entire list. Thanks... -- John Maloney

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Status?
by rns＠beta.lanl.gov 01 Oct '91

01 Oct '91

Could you comment on the status and features of the upcoming release (or did I miss the announcement?)? Randy Sims WSRC rns(a)lanl.gov

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Self-interest October 1991