Re: Trivial suggestion

[Michael McClary <michael>]

> This is no great priority, but it would eliminate a dozen or two
> messages from the interface.

But it does so by substituting run-time type-checking for compile-time
type-checking.  This has the twin bad effects of adding run-time overhead
and giving you no indication that your code has a bug until the bug is
actually exercised (which may be after it is in the customer's hands.)

Dirty symbol tables are NOT a problem.  Dirty code is.

(In Smalltalk, of course, an inherited method would be the logical way
to go, since there is no compile-time type-checking to lose.)

If the code is very common, it would be reasonable (in C++) to have a
macro that generates it.  My impression is that the only Smalltalk
equivlaent is a translator hack to emit the macro.  (Has our friendly
development environment bitten us again?)

	michael