[fU] more s11n advances: serializableClass() is GONE!!! :)

[stephan b. <st...@ei...>]

Another holy grail: the serializableClass()/implClass() stuff is /no 
longer needed/!!! It builds the class names database at run-time via 
the INSTANTIATOR macro, typeid() and some weird template code. This 
reduces the copies of the class names to 1 per serializable type 
instead of one per instance (well, okay, 2 or 3 per type, because 
they're mapped a couple different ways in some global maps).
i've found that i do get different typeid(Foo).name()s in different 
contexts, however, and i'm not sure yet if that will break this 
approach. So far, so good, anyway.

By the way: Serializable is now a more general term for classes meeting 
a general interface, not a specific class. Any type can be Serializable 
by simply implementing two functions and doing a macro call to map 
their functions to a SerializableAdapter, which will then be used by 
the core to marshall the calls between the two APIs. Since it's inlined 
template code the theoretical runtime cost is zero.

i /may/ put the serializableClass() stuff back in, only because it makes 
it easy to map aliases for your types, but the current framework 
supports that as well, so i may just leave it out. It has always been 
the bastard stepchild of the whole model, anyway.

It is SO easy to mix different Serializable types now, even if they have 
different physical interfaces, because it's all mediated by an Adapter 
class (should that be Adaptor?) which translates the APIs. Casting is a 
thing of the past, too - there is /not one single cast/ in the 
core/classloader, and it's 100% compile-time safe! It's essentially 
impossible to load a class of the wrong type!

The classloading model turns classloading on it's head - AFAIK this 
approach has never been used before... but i LOVE how it's turning out.

This has been the absolute best Zen Coding week of my life. Since last 
Sunday at Midnight i have only slept 9(!) hours and i feel just great 
because this code is turning out to be the best things i've ever 
written, and that just turns me on. :) :) :)

(too little sleep and the mind goes, eh?)

-- 
----- st...@ei... - http://www.einsurance.de
"... NOT because we are America's poodle ..." Tony Blair, 30.9.2003