Initial revision

git-svn-id: svn+ssh://svn.gna.org/svn/gnustep/libs/base/trunk@1 72102866-910b-0410-8b05-ffd578937521

Source/objects/Coding.h

@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/* Protocol for GNU Objective-C objects that can write/read to a coder
+   Copyright (C) 1993,1994 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+   
+   Written by:  R. Andrew McCallum <mccallum@gnu.ai.mit.edu>
+   Date: July 1994
+   
+   This file is part of the GNU Objective C Class Library.
+
+   This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+   modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public
+   License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+   version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+   
+   This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+   Library General Public License for more details.
+   
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public
+   License along with this library; if not, write to the Free
+   Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
+   */ 
+
+#ifndef __Coding_h
+#define __Coding_h
+
+#include <objects/stdobjects.h>
+
+@class Coder;
+
+@protocol Coding
+
+- (void) encodeWithCoder: (Coder*)anEncoder;
++ newWithCoder: (Coder*)aDecoder;
+
+/* NOTE:  
+
+   This is +newWithCoder: and not -initWithCoder: because many classes
+   keep track of their instances and only allow one instance of each
+   configuration.  For example, see the designated initializers of
+   SocketPort, Connection, and Proxy.
+
+   Making this +new.. instead of -init.. prevents us from having to
+   waste the effort of allocating space for an object to be decoded,
+   then immediately deallocating that space because we're just
+   returning a pre-existing object.
+
+   I also like it because it makes very clear that this method is
+   expected to return the decoded object.  This requirement would have
+   also been present in an -init... implementation, but the
+   requirement may not have been 100 percent clear by the method name.
+
+   -mccallum  */
+
+@end
+
+#endif /* __Coding_h */