[PEAK] And so it begins... (generic function migration)

[Phillip J. Eby]

Just a quick status report on the generic function conversions within PEAK:

At 12:07 AM 11/11/04 -0500, Phillip J. Eby wrote:
>Here are some current candidates for potentially switching from interfaces 
>to single-dispatch generic functions:
>
>* binding.IComponentKey -- findComponent()

I've decided to leave this one alone; the normal use of this is such that 
the adapters are not obtained on-the-fly.  Instead, they typically sit 
inside 'binding.Obtain' instances for later use, so there's little runtime 
overhead for adapter creation.


>* binding.IAttachable -- setParentComponent()
>* binding.IBindingNode -- getParentComponent(), getComponentName()

These are both implemented in CVS.  IAttachable remains an interface, but 
IBindingNode was consolidated into IComponent.  If you want to implement 
parts of the old IBindingNode, you should just add cases to 
'binding.getParentComponent' or 'binding.getComponentName'.

(Note that this change may break code that relies on using 
'someOb.getParentComponent()' or 'someOb.getComponentName()' if 'someOb' is 
not a binding.Component.  You should've been using 'binding.getXXX(ob)' all 
along, not 'ob.getXXX()'.)


>* config.IStreamSource -- getFactory()

Done; replaced with 'config.getStreamFactory()' in CVS.


>* naming.IBaseURL -- joinURL()

This one won't be changed; mostly it is implemented directly in URL classes 
that it's useful for, so there's no real benefit to switching.


>* naming.IReferenceable -- getReference()

For this one, I dropped the interface entirely, since it's not currently 
used.  When the functionality it envisions is actually implemented, 
however, we'll use a GF.


>* net.IClientSockAddr -- connect_addrs()
>* net.IListenSockAddr -- listen_addrs()

These won't be changed right now, but whenever I get back to working on 
'peak.net' stuff, this will be revisited.


>* running.ICheckableResource -- checkResource()

No immediate benefit, but whenever I get back to working on 
peak.running.daemons and friends, this one will also be revisited.


>* security.IAuthorizedPrincipal -- checkGlobalPermission()
>* security.IPermissionChecker -- checkPermission()
>* security.IGuardedObject -- getPermissionForName() [full GF?]

These are still pending, waiting to get done as part of a complete 
refactoring of peak.security, using generic functions (and predicate 
dispatch) throughout.  The rewrite will also make use of the coming 
"attribute metadata" framework.


>* web.IViewTarget -- registerWithProtocol()

Done and in CVS.  This one could maybe become an API function of 
PyProtocols itself, but for now it's just a private generic function used 
to implement the Location facility.


>* Virtually all peak.model interfaces [full GF's]

This is actually going to get tackled in the peak.schema rewrite.


>* running.IExecutable and friends

I've completed the review of this one, and decided to do only slight tweaks 
to the current setup.  (See my previous post at:

    http://www.eby-sarna.com/pipermail/peak/2004-November/001933.html

for more info.)