Smalltalk/X WebserverDocumentation of class 'TwoByteSymbol': | |
Class: TwoByteSymbolInheritance:Object | +--Collection | +--SequenceableCollection | +--ArrayedCollection | +--UninterpretedBytes | +--CharacterArray | +--TwoByteString | +--TwoByteSymbol
Description:This is a dummy stub - only present to provide a superclass for some VW Public Domain code (which subclasses or adds extensions to TwoByteSymbol). ST/X does not support (by purpose) general unicode symbols. Why: A while ago, I have been shocked by getting a Smalltalk program which was written in another (national) language. All method, class and argument names where completely unreadable to me. And I could not really understand, what the program was doing. I still occasionally receive individual methods with local variables and comments in another language, and it is very hard at times to understand it. The above were using latin1 characters, so just imagine the additional confusion, if the program was written using non latin characters. So this artificial 'limitation' forces people to at least use words which are readable to everyone. I now even request programs to be written in english, using english coments and english variable names. As every programmer from the far east understands english, but not vice versa, this should make communication easier. It has nothing to do with 'western cultural imperialism', as some might think, but is purely practical: it should support the comprehensability of programs among a worldwide community. Notice: general Unicode IS supported in Strings and Character literals. So this affects only program code - not user interfaces. |
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ST/X 7.7.0.0; WebServer 1.702 at 20f6060372b9.unknown:8081; Sat, 21 Dec 2024 17:15:35 GMT |