There's one feature of other languages like C++ and Java I really miss in ooRexx. In Java, an instance of a class can access non-public methods and fields of another instance of the same class. ooRexx has PRIVATE methods, but access to those methods is limited to calls from the within the same object (via a call to self~whatever). If two instances of a class need to share data, there's no protected way to do this. It's necessary to define things with publlic access, and you then need to trust that nobody will misuse the access.
I have a simple proposal (and code...a surprisingly small amount of code) for expanding the usable scope of PRIVATE methods: A PRIVATE method can be invoked from any of the following situations: 1) The caller is a method of the same object as the target (i.e., invoked via self~whatever). This is the same as today. 2) The caller is an instance of the same class that defined the target method (the method's scope). This will allow an instance of a class invoke a private method of another instance of the same class. 3) The caller is a class object that is compatible with the scope of the method. This allows class objects to also access private methods of its own instances. Useful for specialized class methods that create instances (such as the "fromXxxxxx" methods on DateTime). I have the code written for this, but because it's such a change in behavior, I thought this should get some discussion on the list first. Rick ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _______________________________________________ Oorexx-devel mailing list Oorexx-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/oorexx-devel
