Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
From: cyber_surfer@wildcard.demon.co.uk (Cyber Surfer)
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!news.duke.edu!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!gatech!swrinde!pipex!demon!wildcard.demon.co.uk!cyber_surfer
Subject: Re: Why do people like C? (Was: Comparison: Beta - Lisp)
References: <781783638snz@wildcard.demon.co.uk> <CxIsCw.3uq@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> <782420014snz@wildcard.demon.co.uk> <Cy1E6D.44v@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: The Wildcard Killer Butterfly Breeding Ground
Reply-To: cyber_surfer@wildcard.demon.co.uk
X-Newsreader: Demon Internet Simple News v1.27
Lines: 48
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 1994 16:51:52 +0000
Message-ID: <783017512snz@wildcard.demon.co.uk>
Sender: usenet@demon.co.uk

In article <Cy1E6D.44v@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> jeff@aiai.ed.ac.uk "Jeff Dalton" writes:

> I asked why CLOS couldn't support sharing code at the class level
> and you gave me something about sealing.  I'm still wondering 
> what the connection between sealing and sharing is, but you still
> don't explain it.  All you say is "I didn't say it was necessary".

That may be coz I don't recall the Dylan giving any specifics.
Until we see a few implementations, I'd say this is a little
acedemic, but I'm willing to wait before judging it.

If you want a detailed explanation, I suggest asking Apple about
it. All I can do is read the stuff on UseNet and Internet. The
DIRM is available at cambridge.apple.com.

> It says no more subclasses and so some things (such as the
> "-p" predicates defstruct defines) can take this into account.

Thanks. My experience of Lisp is limited to the systems available
to me. AKCL isn't on the list (yet).

> I don't fully understand what you're describing.

I was trying to be general, and that may have made me a little
unclear. Sorry. It's just that every example I could think of
had at least one exception!

Some systems make it trivial, while others require you to get your
hands "dirty" and platform specific. A good framework might hide the
platform, but some don't. Some language systems don't even have a
framework, just an API strongly resembling the platform's API.

Is that any clearer?

> But if the system creates any windows, that's not letting me
> ignore the GUI.

It could be, if there's no assumption in the code that you're using
a window. You might simply think of it as a stream connected to an
"output", whatever that might be. Plus, the language system might
"know" about windows, but your code (using a subset of the system)
might not. It's hard to say more without giving detailed examples.

Are you familiar with Actor?

-- 
Please vote for moderation in comp.lang.visual
http://cyber.sfgate.com/examiner/people/surfer.html
