[ANSI-Smalltalk] re: array creation syntax

[Panu Logic]

Michael Klein wrote:
> I think the brace array syntax encourages the use of arrays
> as ad-hoc object without classes.
I don't think "ad-hoc objects" are bad by definition.

If instead you create a new class, but use that
class only once,  that  bloats  the code  unnecessarily
 - and makes it harder to browse  the class-hierarchy.
It leads to too many classes.

The situation is the same with blocks.  You could
say that a block is an ad-hoc method.  That doesn't
mean that blocks are bad. You could replace
(the content of) any  block with a method-call to self.
But that would lead to too many methods.

Giving a name to something is justified when the
thing named is used in more than one or two places.
If a thing is used only once, giving it a name and
definition would be overhead.

And note that Arrays are Objects too. If they are
"ad-hoc" it means they are created "for a specific
purpose". Nothing wrong with that. Same goes
for Dictionaries. They are ad-hoc too.


-Panu Viljamaa