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It seems like the code/system browser has essentially stayed the same since Smalltalk-80. See Figure 17.11 on page 298 (PDF page 320) of the blue book [1]. I'
by floxy 5y ago
It seems like the code/system browser has essentially stayed the same since Smalltalk-80. See Figure 17.11 on page 298 (PDF page 320) of the blue book [1]. I've often wondered about "modernizing" it, or at least exploring other options for interacting with the source. Have there been attempts at this? This is pretty far down on my list of things to fund even if I were to win the lottery some day. But I like to think about it anyway.
[1] http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Bluebook.pdf http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Bluebook....
- xkriva11 5y agoThere was a lot of attempts, Glamorous Toolkit is exploring one alternative approach now. But the basic concept seems to be very solid. Think of the code base as the fractal system you want to explore. Then the browser provides several well-placed views with increasing zoom levels. It is hard to beat it. When you explore, for example, senders of a given message, you jump to another position in the fractal that conceptually looks similar. And you need to keep track to do not lose orientation. Exploring a classical source file is like moving in fractal on a fixed zoom level.