On Jun 2, 2013, at 5:48 AM, Bahman Movaqar <bah...@bahmanm.com> wrote:
> On 2013-06-02 08:01, b...@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/ 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 >
