Re: Create phase protocol...

[Barry McMullin]

Well, just to give an update on this:

Glen and I have kicked around this subject offline for a while.
Glen introduced the idea that calling createEnd may, in general,
be "optional" - that is, it may be that it is generally safe to 
assume that none of the swarm classes will misbehave
if createEnd is *not* invoked.  Granted, neither of us can see any
immediate reason why failing to invoke createEnd would be a
*useful* idea; but Glen's point is that it may not necessarily be
wrong or defective (and, at worst, might simply impose some
performance hit).

This possibility had simply not occurred to me (and still doesn't
strike me as very plausible...).

But: re-reading the docs, we both agree that this seems to be a moot
point - the docs do not seem to clearly stipulate whether or not invoking
createEnd is *required*.  Specifically, in the case of a user
defined class overriding the createEnd method, it is not clear
whether it is *required* to invoke the [super createEnd] method
within it.

The corollary is that, on the issue of whether Heatbug.m should
be considered defective or not, this hinges simply on whether the
invocation of [super createEnd] is required or not.

In any case, Glen agrees with me (?) that *if* the user defined createEnd
*does* invoke [super createEnd], then the restrictions I outlined
on using the self pointer probably do apply...

This still leaves the key issue open: whether, in general, in
overriding createEnd, it is necessary or essential to invoke
[super createEnd].  Neither Glen nor I currently have an answer,
so somebody else (Roger? Manor?) will have to weigh in with the
definitive word....

Barry.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
| Barry McMullin, Autonomous Systems Group,  |    address@hidden |
| School of Electronic Engineering,          |  Voice: +353-1-704-5432 |
| Dublin City University, Dublin 9, IRELAND. |  FAX:   +353-1-704-5508 |
| http://www.eeng.dcu.ie/~mcmullin/home.html |                         |
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++