Re: Obj-C Namespacing

[Helge Hess]

On 04.12.2003, at 20:35, Ziemowit Laski wrote:
> That's right.  I believe that adding namespaces to ObjC/ObjC++ 
> constructs would actually require adding namespace support to the 
> runtime, and runtime metadata. :-(

Where do you see problems?

If we are talking about class namespaces (not selector namespaces), 
this should be a non issue. Isn't that already done in the Apple Java 
bridge, mapping Java classes as Objective-C classes with their 
respective names (eg org.gnustep.MyReflectedJavaClass)?

I guess that would be actually quite compatible even with sources 
compiled with older GCCs in practice. Eg a bundle class name is located 
using the principal class, that is, with a table lookup. The bundle 
could be completely hide its internal classes using namespaces, yet 
still be usable.
"Hard" linked libraries/frameworks could still expose the public 
classes in the default namespace yet implement the internals using 
namespaces.

As a suggestion, use
---snip---
@namespace org.gnustep;

@interface MyClass : com.apple.Foundation.NSObject
- (id)blub;
@end

@end
---snap---

Should work and produce "org.gnustep.MyClass" as the class name in the 
class lookup table.

Do I miss anything?

regards,
  Helge
--
I'm describing in a paragraph what took 14 hours to figure out. You may 
want to sniff glue for a while, then reread this when you get out of 
rehab. [aLa]