Re: OBJECT-ORIENTED CLX

[Kerry Kimbrough <Kimbrough@dsg.csc.ti.com>]

   > Date: Tue, 01 Nov 88 23:51:58 PST
   > From: Warren Harris <harris%hplwhh@HPLABS.HP.COM>
   > 
   > I want to reiterate again why I think approach 1 to event dispatching is
   > best.  

OK, you convinced me.


   > > Very little of the existing
   > > CLX programmer interface ought to change. 
   > 
   > On the surface this may seem true, but there is a fundamental difference.
   > Requiring CLX to be object-oriented would change the way applications would
   > use it.  

Agreed -- (not (eq clx oo-clx)).  But (equalp clx oo-clx)?  My point is spelled
out perhaps more clearly in my reply to David: we're talking about a system
which, by definition, is the same as CLX (not strictly but in a strong sense).
Similarly, CLOS is designed to mesh smoothly with non-OO Lisp functions.
Therefore, there is little reason for OOCLX to diverge from CLX -- neither
semantically nor syntactically.  Where divergence can be soundly justified,
fine.  But the rule of thumb should be "same until proven different".  

On a practical note, CLX is already carefully designed to match up well with the
interfaces and terminology of the X protocol.  Tinker with this gratuitously
(e.g.  x -> outside-left) and you'll be overwhelmed by the moans, squawks, and
bleeps of the multitude of hackers already laboring away in the sulphurous lower
circles.  No, don't look at it that way; look at it this way: it'll make the
transition from CLX to OOCLX cheaper.

   > I was thinking that you could just save the init-plist on the object when
   > you did a MAKE-INSTANCE call.  This would require just 1 slot.  OPEN-OBJECT
   > would then take the init-plist apart.  CLOSE-OBJECT could build a new
   > "init-plist" for the next time the object is opened, by querying the server
   > for all the object's attributes before it actually issued the destroy
   > request.  The alternative is to actually allocate all the :X-SERVER slots
   > with :INSTANCE allocation, and use these slots as caches when necessary. 

OK, I think the init-plist is a good idea.