• Kagamin <spam here.lot> Nov 04 2010
• Michel Fortin <michel.fortin michelf.com> Nov 04 2010
• Jacob Carlborg <doob me.com> Nov 04 2010

Kagamin <spam here.lot> writes:

Michel Fortin Wrote:

 I posted on my blog a preliminary document outlining what I intent to 
 implement in DMD to support the Objective-C object model.
 
 <http://michelf.com/weblog/2010/dobjc-preliminary-design/>
 
 Comments?


Do you require explicit selector declaration? I'm afraid, this will lead to a
large duplication:

extern (Objective-C)
class NSComboBox : NSTextField
{
    private void* _dataSource;

    void insertItemWithObjectValue(ObjcObject object, NSInteger atIndex)
[insertItemWithObjectValue:atIndex:];
    void insertItemWithObjectValue(ObjcObject object)
[insertItemWithObjectValue:];
}

comboBox.insertItemWithObjectValue(val, idx); // [comboBox
insertItemWithObjectValue:val atIndex:idx]
comboBox.insertItemWithObjectValue(val);      // [comboBox
insertItemWithObjectValue:val]

compiler can build selector automatically from function signature.

Michel Fortin <michel.fortin michelf.com> writes:

On 2010-11-04 07:37:25 -0400, Kagamin <spam here.lot> said:

 Do you require explicit selector declaration? I'm afraid, this will 
 lead to a large duplication:
 
 extern (Objective-C)
 class NSComboBox : NSTextField
 {
     private void* _dataSource;
 
     void insertItemWithObjectValue(ObjcObject object, NSInteger 
 atIndex) [insertItemWithObjectValue:atIndex:];
     void insertItemWithObjectValue(ObjcObject object) 
 [insertItemWithObjectValue:];
 }
 
 comboBox.insertItemWithObjectValue(val, idx); // [comboBox 
 insertItemWithObjectValue:val atIndex:idx]
 comboBox.insertItemWithObjectValue(val);      // [comboBox 
 insertItemWithObjectValue:val]
 
 compiler can build selector automatically from function signature.


More or less. You need to specify the selector explicitly only if you 
need the function to have specific selector. Otherwise the compiler 
will generate one for you.

The compiler-generated selector will ensure that function overloading 
works by adding the mangled parameter types. As an exception for 
 property setters, the compiler will convert function 'name' to 
selector 'setName:' which should make properties work with key-value 
coding. For  IBAction functions, it'll use directly the name of the 
function.

So you should rarely have to specify the selector unless you're writing 
bindings to existing Objective-C objects. And, hopefully, creating 
bindings can be automated.

-- 
Michel Fortin
michel.fortin michelf.com
http://michelf.com/

Jacob Carlborg <doob me.com> writes:

On 2010-11-04 13:08, Michel Fortin wrote:
 On 2010-11-04 07:37:25 -0400, Kagamin <spam here.lot> said:

 Do you require explicit selector declaration? I'm afraid, this will
 lead to a large duplication:

 extern (Objective-C)
 class NSComboBox : NSTextField
 {
 private void* _dataSource;

 void insertItemWithObjectValue(ObjcObject object, NSInteger atIndex)
 [insertItemWithObjectValue:atIndex:];
 void insertItemWithObjectValue(ObjcObject object)
 [insertItemWithObjectValue:];
 }

 comboBox.insertItemWithObjectValue(val, idx); // [comboBox
 insertItemWithObjectValue:val atIndex:idx]
 comboBox.insertItemWithObjectValue(val); // [comboBox
 insertItemWithObjectValue:val]

 compiler can build selector automatically from function signature.


 More or less. You need to specify the selector explicitly only if you
 need the function to have specific selector. Otherwise the compiler will
 generate one for you.

 The compiler-generated selector will ensure that function overloading
 works by adding the mangled parameter types. As an exception for
  property setters, the compiler will convert function 'name' to selector
 'setName:' which should make properties work with key-value coding. For
  IBAction functions, it'll use directly the name of the function.

 So you should rarely have to specify the selector unless you're writing
 bindings to existing Objective-C objects. And, hopefully, creating
 bindings can be automated.


I already have a Ruby script/tool that automatically creates Objective-C 
bindings. But these bindings are not optimal (require some manual 
editing), it would also require to update the script for this syntax.

But now I've stared on a new tool based on Clang that creates 
Objective-C bindings and it's working A LOT better then the Ruby script. 
Having the tool based on a complete frontend is a HUGE improvement and 
makes the development processes easier.

-- 
/Jacob Carlborg