Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- FOREWORD
- PREFACE
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 A DIAGRAM FOR OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMS
- 2 CONSTRUCTING ABSTRACTIONS FOR OBJECT-ORIENTED APPLICATIONS
- 3 PLAYRGOUND: AN OBJECT ORIENTED SIMULATION SYSTEM WITH AGENT RULES FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES
- 4 A LABORATORY FOR TEACHING OBJECT-ORIENTED THINKING
- 5 THINK LIKE AN OBJECT
- 6 WHY STUDY SMALLTALK IDIOMS?
- 7 THE DREADED SUPER
- 8 ABSTRACT CONTROL IDIOMS
- 9 VALUEMODEL IDIOMS
- 10 COLLECTION IDIOMS
- 11 AN OBJECTWORKS\SMALLTALK 4.1 WRAPPER IDIOM
- 12 A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO PATTERN LANGUAGE
- 13 WHOLE LOTTA SMALLTALK: THE TECHNOLOGY
- 14 INSTANCE-SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR: HOW AND WHY
- 15 INSTANCE-SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR: DIGITALK IMPLEMENTATION AND THE DEEPER MEANING OF IT ALL
- 16 TO ACCESSOR OR NOT TO ACCESSOR
- 17 INHERITANCE: THE REST OF THE STORY
- 18 INHERITANCE: THE REST OF THE STORY (CONT.)
- 19 HELPER METHODS AVOID UNWANTED INHERITANCE
- 20 IT'S NOT JUST THE CASE
- 21 CRC: FINDING OBJECTS THE EASY WAY
- 22 DEATH TO CASE STATEMENTS
- 23 WHERE DO OBJECTS COME FROM?
- 24 PATTERNS AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
- 25 DISTRIBUTED SMALLTALK
- 26 WHERE DO OBJECTS COME FROM? FROM VARIABLES AND METHODS
- 27 BIRDS, BEES, AND BROWSERS—OBVIOUS SOURCES OF OBJECTS
- 28 USING PATTERNS: DESIGN
- 29 PATTERNS GENERATE ARCHITECTURES
- 30 SIMPLE SMALLTALK TESTING
- 31 ARCHITECTURAL PROTOTYPE: TELEVISION REMOTE CONTROL
- 32 DEMAND LOADING FOR VISUALWORKS
- 33 GARBAGE COLLECTION REVEALED
- 34 WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED TO GARBAGE COLLECTION?
- 35 SUPER + 1
- 36 CLEAN CODE: PIPE DREAM OR STATE OF MIND?
- 37 A MODEST META PROPOSAL
- 38 USES OF VARIABLES: TEMPS
- 39 VARIABLES OF THE WORLD
- 40 PATTERNS 101
- 41 FAREWELL AND A WOOD PILE
- AFTERWORD
- INDEX
8 - ABSTRACT CONTROL IDIOMS
Smalltalk Report, July–August, 1992
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- FOREWORD
- PREFACE
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 A DIAGRAM FOR OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMS
- 2 CONSTRUCTING ABSTRACTIONS FOR OBJECT-ORIENTED APPLICATIONS
- 3 PLAYRGOUND: AN OBJECT ORIENTED SIMULATION SYSTEM WITH AGENT RULES FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES
- 4 A LABORATORY FOR TEACHING OBJECT-ORIENTED THINKING
- 5 THINK LIKE AN OBJECT
- 6 WHY STUDY SMALLTALK IDIOMS?
- 7 THE DREADED SUPER
- 8 ABSTRACT CONTROL IDIOMS
- 9 VALUEMODEL IDIOMS
- 10 COLLECTION IDIOMS
- 11 AN OBJECTWORKS\SMALLTALK 4.1 WRAPPER IDIOM
- 12 A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO PATTERN LANGUAGE
- 13 WHOLE LOTTA SMALLTALK: THE TECHNOLOGY
- 14 INSTANCE-SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR: HOW AND WHY
- 15 INSTANCE-SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR: DIGITALK IMPLEMENTATION AND THE DEEPER MEANING OF IT ALL
- 16 TO ACCESSOR OR NOT TO ACCESSOR
- 17 INHERITANCE: THE REST OF THE STORY
- 18 INHERITANCE: THE REST OF THE STORY (CONT.)
- 19 HELPER METHODS AVOID UNWANTED INHERITANCE
- 20 IT'S NOT JUST THE CASE
- 21 CRC: FINDING OBJECTS THE EASY WAY
- 22 DEATH TO CASE STATEMENTS
- 23 WHERE DO OBJECTS COME FROM?
- 24 PATTERNS AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
- 25 DISTRIBUTED SMALLTALK
- 26 WHERE DO OBJECTS COME FROM? FROM VARIABLES AND METHODS
- 27 BIRDS, BEES, AND BROWSERS—OBVIOUS SOURCES OF OBJECTS
- 28 USING PATTERNS: DESIGN
- 29 PATTERNS GENERATE ARCHITECTURES
- 30 SIMPLE SMALLTALK TESTING
- 31 ARCHITECTURAL PROTOTYPE: TELEVISION REMOTE CONTROL
- 32 DEMAND LOADING FOR VISUALWORKS
- 33 GARBAGE COLLECTION REVEALED
- 34 WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED TO GARBAGE COLLECTION?
- 35 SUPER + 1
- 36 CLEAN CODE: PIPE DREAM OR STATE OF MIND?
- 37 A MODEST META PROPOSAL
- 38 USES OF VARIABLES: TEMPS
- 39 VARIABLES OF THE WORLD
- 40 PATTERNS 101
- 41 FAREWELL AND A WOOD PILE
- AFTERWORD
- INDEX
Summary
Notice that I am still calling what I am doing “idioms.” What I am describing are really patterns, even if they are small-scale patterns. I figured it was better to bring my audience along a bit, prove myself useful, and then spring the bigger idea of which this is all a part.
I wouldn't do this again. Better to just say what you mean, and if you lose some people, so be it. I have a real tendency to try to please everybody, so this approach kind of goes against the grain.
The tension between evolutionary and revolutionary change is something I struggle with constantly. On consulting gigs, it is always a temptation to just say, “Throw the bastards out,” to start fresh. Often this will produce the best results the quickest. However, it requires courage and a lack of ego to “toss out” hard work. On the other hand, I'm always worried that if I were a little smarter, I'd be able to deal with the situation as it is.
The column is a good example of a technique I learned from Dave Thomas that he calls “lie management.” You present an over-simplified but essentially correct view of the world, then you fix it. The engineer in me recoils at this—I will go to ridiculous lengths to understand things completely, and everyone must be like me, right?
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- Kent Beck's Guide to Better SmalltalkA Sorted Collection, pp. 93 - 102Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997