Objective C?

[Corwin Light-Williams]

> Objective-C *has* these reflective capabilities via it's C API. There
> just is no standard object wrapper around it (to try one, check out
> NGReflection, contained in the MOF2-fd kit available at
> ftp.gnustep.org/pub/contrib [is not that nice, but exposes almost all
> internals]).
> Indeed creating a category on ObjC which wraps the C API is very easy.
> Anyway, that is mainly a class library issue, not a language one.
> Eg some stuff you can do dynamically in ObjC is adding methods to
> classes or subclassing classes.

I realize that, and I'm aware that there are ways to do it. I'm
not hindered by the fact that it's not the simplest thing in the world,
but I'd just like to further the cause of what I percieve to be
a cool language that's going to be growing in popularity soon.

> I agree that ObjC++ is somewhat nice for integration purposes (there is
> a lot of C++ software out there ..). But I also agree that the effort
> required is probably huge, given that the C++ frontend is likely the
> most complex frontend of the gcc compiler.
> I wonder whether the gcc C++ guys would be willing to add ObjC support
> in the main C++ frontend (not by duplicating the C++ parser like it is
> done with the C parser right now) - I guess not.

Conflicting semantics I think are the biggest issue. ObjC would percieve
it one way, and C++ would see it another. It might require a total rewrite
of the GNU ObjC platform to get it to work right- I have no idea. And it
might be possible to base a lot of that work off of Apple's work, but it's
not clear how worth it that is.

Corwin
----
Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and 
then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath.
At night, the ice weasels come.

--Matt Groening