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Stefan Sobernig <stefan.sobernig@wu.ac.at>
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on 09 Jun 13
Proof-read announcement for a second time
2-1-0-rc + 53 more
doc/Announce2.0b5 (+17 -19)
1 1 Dear Community,
2 2
3 3 Since releasing the Next Scripting Framework (NSF) 2.0b3, we have
4 4 received feedback from early adopters. Many thanks for the helpful and
5 5 the constructive comments! This feedback triggered an internal
6 6 discussion and led to revising some earlier design decisions and
7   naming conventions used in the APIs to achieve better comprehension
8   and orthogonality.
  7 naming conventions used in the APIs to achieve better
  8 comprehensibility and orthogonality.
9 9
10   The new release differs in about 250 commits since the release of
11   2.0b3. The implementation is very stable and is used since
12   more than two years in production of our large scale, multi threaded
13   web environment inside NaviServer. Most of the changes happened
14   in NX and therefore on the NSF scripting level, without the need
15   to modify the NSF C layer. The implementation of XOTcl 2
16   has changed very little. The Next Scripting Framework was tested
17   with Tcl 8.5.14 and Tcl 8.6.0.
  10 Since the release of 2.0b3, there were more than 250 commits to our
  11 code repository. The implementation is very stable and has been used for
  12 more than two years in production of our large-scale, multi-threaded
  13 web environment inside NaviServer. Most of the changes happened in NX
  14 and, therefore, on the NSF scripting level, without the need to modify
  15 the NSF C layer. The implementation of XOTcl 2 has changed very
  16 little. The Next Scripting Framework was tested with Tcl 8.5.14 and
  17 Tcl 8.6.0.
18 18
19 19 This beta-release is supposed to be the last release before
20 20 the final 2.0 is out, which should be soon.
21 21
22 22 Below are the most notable differences in 2.0b5 as compared to
23 23 2.0b3:
24 24
25 25 a) NX 2.0b3 used the following conventions to define methods for
26 26    instances, object-specific methods and class-object specific
27 27    methods:
28 28
29 29      /cls/ method foo {args} {...}
30 30      /obj/ method bar {args} {...}
31 31      /cls/ class method baz {args} {...}
32 32
33 33    Introspection was possible via (in the same order):
34 34
35 35      /cls/ info methods
36 36      /obj/ info methods
37 37      /cls/ class info methods
 
43 43    the most general class nx::Object, the same introspection operation
44 44    (e.g., "info methods") should return e.g. object-specific methods
45 45    for both class objects and ordinary, non-class objects.
46 46
47 47    Therefore, we adopted the following more orthogonal
48 48    conventions to define methods for instances and
49 49    for object-specific methods
50 50
51 51      /cls/ method foo {args} {...}
52 52      /obj/ object method bar {args} {...}
53 53
54 54    Introspection:
55 55
56 56      /cls/ info methods
57 57      /obj/ info object methods
58 58
59 59    Note that we can now use the same mechanism to define
60 60    or query object-specific methods on objects and classes.
61 61    The same applies for aliases, forwards, mixins, and filters.
62 62
63      The new convention imposes a little typing burden on the
64      developer, but reduces the effort of a reader of a
65      program for understanding what exactly
66         $x method FOO {args} {...}
67      means.
  63    The new convention imposes a little typing burden on the developer,
  64    but reduces the reading effort when trying to understand what
  65    exactly $x method FOO {args} {...}  means.
68 66
69 67    For convenience, we provide two packages "nx::plain-object-method"
70 68    and "nx::class-method" to switch to the old conventions. A verbose
71 69    tracing mode can report usages to ease migration.
72 70
73 71
74 72 b) Parametrization:
75 73
76 74    NX 2.0b3 followed the XOTcl conventions of registering by default
77 75    same-named getter/setter methods for configuration parameters used
78 76    in object creation. These getter/setter methods bloat the method
79 77    interface and risk shadowing inherited methods, leading to
80 78    unexpected behaviors for beginners.
81 79
82 80    NX 2.0b5 adopts a Tk/itcl/... idiom by offering a cget/configure
83 81    interface to objects as generic getters/setters. To obtain
84 82    parameter-specific getters/setters (i.e., the old behavior), the
85 83    flag "-accessor public|protected|private" can be set when defining
86 84    properties and variables.
87 85
88 86 c) Further clean-ups of the introspection interface ("info").
89 87
90 88    In order to streamline the interface further, we followed the idea
91 89    to use "... info /plural word/" to obtain a set of handles, and
92      then to make a separate call to obtain the details. Therefore, we
  90    then to make a separate call to retrieve the details. Therefore, we
93 91    now provide ...
94 92
95 93      /cls/ info methods
96 94      /obj/ info object methods
97 95
98 96      /cls/ info variables
99 97      /obj/ info object variables
100 98
101 99      /cls/ info slots
102 100      /obj/ info object slots
103 101
104 102      /cls/ info method parameters /methodName/
105 103      /obj/ info object method parameters /methodName/
106 104
107 105      /cls/ info configure parameters
108 106      /obj/ info lookup configure parameters
109 107
110 108    ... to return a list of handles. The result list can be filtered in
111 109    each case by specifying a match pattern. Each result handle can
112 110    then be used in a separate call to obtain details:
113 111
114 112      /obj/ info method definition /methodHandle/
115 113      /obj/ info variable definition /varHandle/
116 114      /obj/ info parameter name /paramHandle/
117 115
118 116    These are just a few examples.
119 117   
120 118    In NX 2.0b3, we had e.g. "... info parameter definitions ..."
121 119    leaving a beginner in the dark about the parameters actually
122 120    meant. Also, the introspection interface made mixed use of plural
123 121    and singular wordings for different purposes (e.g., retrieving
124 122    collections and/or detailed information on one item).
125 123
126 124 Below is a more detailed summary of the changes.
127 125
128   The Next Scripting Framework 2.0b5 (containing NX and XOTcl 2.0)
129   can be obtained from http://next-scripting.org/
  126 The Next Scripting Framework 2.0b5 (containing NX and XOTcl 2.0b5) can
  127 be obtained from http://next-scripting.org/
130 128
131 129 Best regards
132 130 - Gustaf Neumann
133 131 - Stefan Sobernig
134 132
135 133 ===============================================
136 134
137 135 Announcing NSF 2.0b5
138 136 *************************
139 137
140 138 Major changes relative to NSF 2.0b3 are (in addition of
141 139 the items (a), (b), and (c) above) are:
142 140
143 141    * Additional Features:
144 142  
145 143       - serializer:
146 144         * added flag -objmap to Serializer method deepSerialize
147 145           to make serializer to provide mapping only for
148 146           object names. This makes the serializer 
149 147           usable for object/class copying (-map is too coarse)