Cleaning up lava code and unsent messages.
Hi all,
This was an after thought from my previous post. It deserved its own topic.
Lava code is code left over from historical times which has no use in the current image and yet no one is willing to take responsiblity for removing it.
For the record squeak has historically had about one sixth of its messages as unsent methods. Some of which is lava code others of which are examples, probes, utilities and tests.
It would be nice to clean things up so there are no unsent messages. This could be done simply by creating a (pseudo-recursive) message #legitamatelyUnsentMethods (one method say for each class.) That sends for any legitimate examples, etc. Then anything that shows up as unsent would be illegitamate and removeable.
From time to time you would look at the implementors
of the legitamatelyUnsentMethods to clean out what no longer belongs. a legitamatelyUnsentMethods method would be packagable if care were take that it mentions only the unsent methods of that package.
My proposal is that package maintainers should take the responsibility for doing this in their own packages and the release team should reject any code that contains unsent messages. An Sunit test could be provided to check.
I am also hoping to recruit those who would be willing to sort out the unsent messages in core packages and either write legitamatelyUnsentMethods methods for them or flag them as lava code for removal. It is a good way to gain an insight into a lot of squeak code while helping the community.
If this task appeals to you please start it by planting a seed on mantis.
Yours in service and curiosity, --Jeorme Peace
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