Compact Classes in Oxygen

[Charles Pegge]

Proposed New OxygenSyntax

OOP is renowned for being clunky & long-winded. But this compact syntax will I hope make objects really easy to build:

Note the single line type definitions and the constructor prototype. Simple methods can also be done on a single line.

Oxygen source code

type vector single x,y,z
type color  single r,g,b,a

class body
  vector position,size,orientation,velocity,spin
  color ambient,diffuse,specular
  single density
  method mass() as single {return density * size.x * size.y * size.z}
  method constructor ( single* x,y,z) { size=>x,y,z : density=1 }
  method destructor () {}
end class


new body rock 1,2,3

'putfile "t.txt", recordof rock
print "mass of rock is " rock.mass
del rock

Internally the structure is flattened out snd the compiler sees it like this:

$$  383 383 383 383 383 384 384 384 $$

	mass 0 4 9 9 A , single
	constructor 4 4 9 9 A #single#single#single@a1a1a1 sys
	destructor 8 4 9 9 A , sys
/
	position 0 12 1 9 A , vector
	position.x 0 4 1 9 A , single
	position.y 4 4 1 9 A , single
	position.z 8 4 1 9 A , single
 	size 12 12 1 9 A , vector
	size.x 12 4 1 9 A , single
	size.y 16 4 1 9 A , single
	size.z 20 4 1 9 A , single
 	orientation 24 12 1 9 A , vector
	orientation.x 24 4 1 9 A , single
	orientation.y 28 4 1 9 A , single
	orientation.z 32 4 1 9 A , single
 	velocity 36 12 1 9 A , vector
	velocity.x 36 4 1 9 A , single
	velocity.y 40 4 1 9 A , single
	velocity.z 44 4 1 9 A , single
 	spin 48 12 1 9 A , vector
	spin.x 48 4 1 9 A , single
	spin.y 52 4 1 9 A , single
	spin.z 56 4 1 9 A , single
 
  	ambient 60 16 1 9 A , color
	ambient.r 60 4 1 9 A , single
	ambient.g 64 4 1 9 A , single
	ambient.b 68 4 1 9 A , single
	ambient.a 72 4 1 9 A , single
 	diffuse 76 16 1 9 A , color
	diffuse.r 76 4 1 9 A , single
	diffuse.g 80 4 1 9 A , single
	diffuse.b 84 4 1 9 A , single
	diffuse.a 88 4 1 9 A , single
 	specular 92 16 1 9 A , color
	specular.r 92 4 1 9 A , single
	specular.g 96 4 1 9 A , single
	specular.b 100 4 1 9 A , single
	specular.a 104 4 1 9 A , single
 
	density 108 4 1 9 A , single

Charles

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi Charles,

it looks good (very close to C#, so Petr is happy). Will the method/end method form be possible as well, or is that what you refer to as "clunky & long winded"

There is one thing which could be seen little confusing:

size=>x,y,z

The direction of the arrow would suggest you export members of size UDT to variables x,y,z. But I guess it does the opposite?


Petr

[Charles Pegge]

Yes Petr,

All prior layouts for classes and methods still apply. This is really an enhancement of Oxygen's reading skills.

I too am concerned about "=>". This symbol is also used in FreeBasic for making multiple assignments. But the symbols one would naturally like to use have other meanings:

a<=b a less than or equal to b
a<-b a less than minus b
a<--b a less predecremented b

Other possibilities:

a<<=b,c,d
a<<<b,c,d
a<=:b,c,d


a<=b ' the compiler contextually deduces this is an assignment operator , not an arithmetical comparator.

a=b,c,d 'Even smarter deduction.

Any more ideas

Charles

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi Charles,

I would like this syntax:

size = x, y, z

I have seen it in Python, and it looked quite natural to me. But I guess it will be a bit harder for parser to "detect" this type of assignment.


Petr

[Charles Pegge]

Okay Petr, the parser must be prepared to look far ahead, since multi assign is set up at the start, this could be interesting

size = x*s^2,y*s^2 etc

Charles

[Charles Pegge]

After studying the compiler flow, I think the above option imposes too great a burden, so I have opted for "<=" as the preferred multiassign operator. Only 3 tiny changes to the compiler were required.

Anyway, I hope this makes more sense with the arrow pointing in the right direction!

I aim to release this along with wide string support in a few days time.

single a[100]
a[2]<=10,20,30,40,50,60,70
print a[3]

type vector single x,y,z
vector size
size<=1,2,3
print size.y

Charles

[Petr Schreiber]

Ok I am looking forward to try it.


Petr

[Charles Pegge]

This is another mode of expressing structure. It uses nesting/hierarchy instead of inheritance. I envisage this would be most useful in the early stages of object development because it gives a compact view of an object's structure in one piece.

class body
  color
  {
    ambient { single r,g,b,a }
    diffuse { single r,g,b,a }
    specular{ single r,g,b,a }
    single shininess
  }
  phys
  {
    pos   { single x,y,z }
    siz   { single x,y,z }
    rot   { single x,y,z }
    vel   { single x,y,z }
    spin  { single x,y,z }
    single dens
  }
  method mass() as single {return phys.dens * phys.siz.x * phys.siz.y * phys.siz.z}
  method constructor (single x,single y, single z) { phys.siz<=x,y,z : phys.dens=1 }
  method destructor () {}
end class


new body rock 1,2,3

'print recordof rock
print "Mass of rock is " rock.mass

del rock

Charles