Hi
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 ...
MODULE MyApp;
FROM Vendor IMPORT Foobar, Barbar;
VAR
foobar : Foobar = [[Foobar alloc] init];
barbar : Barbar = [[Barbar alloc] init];
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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