[self-interest] value, value:, etc in defaultBehavior

[David Ungar]

Think varargs:  value: x = (value) allows blocks and others to ignore arguments they don't care about. 

Take care,

-- David (tapped out on my iPhone; blame it for any typoze;-)

On Dec 22, 2011, at 9:10 AM, Thorsten Dittmar <thormar at me.com> wrote:

> Hello David,
> 
> 
> for the object 17 and the method value it makes sense, but the object 17 and the method value: x it doesn't make so much sense. I always get a little bit nervous, when an object can response to a meaningless message. In our case it will answer again 17 because value: x is implemented as "self value". It would prefer to get an error, because it is much more difficult to find an error in a system that "works".
> 
> anyhow,  I got your intention and that was what I was asking for. Thx for answering
> 
> best regards
> 
> thorsten 
> 
> 
> On Dec 22, 2011, at 5:43 PM, David Ungar wrote:
> 
>>  
>> 
>> What is the value of 17? Or of 'foo' ? We thought it made sense that the value of 17 is 17.
>> That way you can write:  max: x = ( > x ifTrue: self IfFalse: x )
>> without square brackets. The value method gets inlined out, anyway.
>> After all, 17 knows it's not a block.
>> 
>> - David (from iPad, typos likely)
>> 
>> On Dec 22, 2011, at 8:12 AM, Thorsten Dittmar <thormar at me.com> wrote:
>> 
>>>  
>>> Hello folks,
>>> 
>>> I was always wondering why value and value with parameters was implemented in defaultBehavior and not in the trait block. Of course, that can make some stuff easier, but it looks a little bit like a dirty hack. Would be nice, if somebody can tell me a little bit the background of this implementation.
>>> 
>>> thx
>>> 
>> 
> 
> 
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