we intend to introduce namespaces to ObjM2 and ideally do so in a way
that ObjC classes will also benefit from this. It would be great if
somebody with insights into the Mach-O format and the ObjC runtime
could give some feedback or even join our discussion on this topic.
So far the idea is to allow classes to be bundled into a library
module and add a facility for the library module to rename the
classes as it exports them, which would cause them to be added to the
ObjC runtime under their "rebranded" name instead of their original
name.
Example ...
DEFINITION MODULE Vendor; (* this is the library module *)
EXPORT Foobar AS ProductA, Barbar AS ProductB;
(* a class written in ObjM2 which is external to Vendor but
repackaged here *)
INTERFACE MODULE Foobar : NSObject; <*EXTERNAL=ObjM2*>
(* a class written in ObjC which is external to Vendor but repackaged
here *)
INTERFACE MODULE Barbar : NSObject; <*EXTERNAL=ObjC*>
END Vendor.
Now, "consumers" can use both classes under their "rebranded" names ...
and the compiler will generate code that adds those classes as Foobar
and Barbar to the ObjC runtime, using objc_addClass(), thereby
avoiding any name conflict there may have been with a third party
library or framework.
The general concept is that of a trade relationship. An exporter of
products has control over the global branding of those products,
whether they are manufactured inhouse, or whether they are OEM
products sourced elsewhere.
Now, the issue here is that if we don't have the source code for
classes that refer to Foobar as ProductA and Barbar as ProductB, then
we would need to replace any references to ProductA and ProductB in
those compiled classes with Foobar and Barbar.
It would seem that this should be possible to do, but we are not sure
about that. We'd appreciate some comments on this, mainly as to
feasibility in general, not necessarily in respect of how to do it,
because at this point the goal is to design a language extension.
Implementation is further down the road.
thanks for any feedback
ObjM2 project
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