libs-base/Documentation

@chapter GNU Objective-C Class Library README

@c set the vars OBJECTS_VERSION and GCC_VERSION
@include version.texi

Here is some introductory info to get you started:

@section Initial reading

The file @samp{ANNOUNCE} contains a very brief overview of the library.
It also tells you where to get the most recent version.

The file @samp{NEWS} has the library's feature history.

The file @samp{INSTALL} gives instructions for installing the library.

The file @samp{DISCUSSION} contains the archives of email discussions
about the library.  It's a good place to read about the reasons for
some of the design decisions.

@section Preparing to write code

@ignore
Preliminary documentation is available via @samp{texinfo} in the files
@samp{libobjects.info} and @samp{libobjects.texi}.  The info file was
created from the texi file using an modified version of @samp{makeinfo}
available by anonymous ftp from @samp{iesd.auc.dk:pub/ObjC}.
@end ignore

The documentation isn't much to speak of so far.  Better documentation
will be forthcoming, but the library needs to settle first.  For now I
recommend skipping libobjects.info and reading the header files
instead.  The headers for the GNU classes are in ./objects; the headers
for the NeXT-compatible classes are in ./objects/next-include.

[NOTE: To compile code that uses NeXT compatibility classes, you'll want
to put @samp{XX/objects/next-include} in your include file search path.
Then, (unlike with the old libcoll), you can use #include <objc/List.h>
instead of #include <coll/List.h>.]

The overview of classes below should help you see the big picture as you
read the source.


@section The Class Heirarchy

Here is the class inheritance heirarchy.  All protocols end with
"ing"; all collection protocols end with "Collecting".  All collection
abtract superclasses (classes which are not usable without
subclassing) end with "Collection";

@example
   Collection <Collecting>
       Set
           Bag
       KeyedCollection <KeyedCollecting>
           Dictionary
           MappedCollector
           IndexedCollection <IndexedCollecting>
               Array
                   Stack
                   GapArray
                   CircularArray
                       Queue
                   Heap
               LinkedList
               BinaryTree
               RBTree
               EltNodeCollector
               String
    DelegatePool
    LinkedListNode
        LinkedListEltNode
    BinaryTreeNode
        BinaryTreeEltNode
    RBTreeNode
        RBTreeEltNode
    Stream
        StdioStream
        MemoryStream
    Coder
        TextCoder
        BinaryCoder
            ConnectedCoder
    Port <Coding>
        SocketPort
    Connection
    Proxy <Coding>
    Magnitude
        Time
    Random
    RNGBerkeley <RandomGenerating>
    RNGAdditiveCongruential <RandomGenerating>
@end example


@section Overview of the classes

The GNU classes included in this version of the library fall into five
categories: collections, magnitudes, streams, coders and distributed
object support.

@c There are several GNU protocols also.  You can recognize the protocols
@c by their name: they all end with ``ing''.

@itemize

@item The collection objects all conform to the @samp{Collecting}
protocol.  Reading @samp{./objects/Collecting.h} is a good place to
start.  Protocols for collections that store their contents with keys
and with indices can be found in @samp{./objects/KeyedCollecting.h} and
@samp{./objects/IndexedCollecting.h} respectively.  Examples of generic
collections are @samp{Set} and @samp{Bag}.  The keyed collections are
@samp{Dictionary} and @samp{MappedCollector}.  The classes @samp{Array},
@samp{Queue}, @samp{GapArray}, @samp{LinkedList}, @samp{BinaryTree},
@samp{RBTree} and @samp{SplayTree} are all indexed collections.

@item The public magnitude classes are @samp{Time} and @samp{Random}.
The @samp{Random} class works in conjunction with pseudo-random number
generators that conform to the @samp{RandomGenerating} protocol.  The
conforming class @samp{RNGBerkeley} provides identical behavior to the
BSD random() function.  The class @samp{RNGAdditiveCongruential} is an
implementation of the additive congruential method.

@item Stream objects provide a consistent interface for reading and
writing bytes.  Read @samp{./objects/Stream.h} to get the general idea.
@samp{StdioStream} objects work with files, file descriptors, FILE
pointers and pipes to/from executables.  @samp{MemoryStream} objects
work with memory buffers.

@item Coders provide a formatted way of writing to Streams.  After a
coder is initialized with a stream, the coder can encode/decode
Objective C objects and C types in an architecture-independent way.  See
@samp{./objects/Coder.h} for the abstract superclass interface; see
@samp{./objects/Coding.h} for the protocol adopted by objects that read
and write themselves using coders.  The currently available concrete
coder classes are @samp{BinaryCoder}, for reading and writing a compact
stream of illegible bytes, and @samp{TextCoder}, for reading and writing
human-readable text (which you can also process with @samp{perl},
@samp{awk}, or whatever scripting language you like).

Coders and streams can be mixed and matched so that programmers can
choose the destination and the format separately.

Neither the stream or coder class heirarchies are very mature yet.  I
threw them together because I needed them for distributed objects.

@item The distributed object support classes are @samp{Connection},
@samp{Proxy}, @samp{ConnectedCoder}, @samp{Port} and @samp{SocketPort}.
This version of the distributed objects only works with sockets.  A Mach
port back-end should be on the way.

[NOTE: The GNU distributed object facilities have the same ease-of-use
as NeXT's; be warned, however, that they are not compatible with each
other.  They have different class heirarchies, different instance
variables, different method names, different implementation strategies
and different network message formats.  You cannot communicate with a
NeXT NXConnection using a GNU Connection.  The GNU distributed object
code does not work with the NeXT Objective C runtime.  NXConnection
creates NXProxy objects for local objects as well as remote objects; GNU
Connection doesn't need and doesn't create proxies for local objects.
NXProxy asks it's remote target for the method encoding types and caches
the results; GNU Proxy gets the types directly from the local GNU "typed
selector" mechanism and has no need for querying the remote target or
caching encoding types.  The NXProxy for the remote root object always
has name 0 and, once set, you cannot change the root object of a
NXConnection; the GNU Proxy for the remote root object has a target
address value just like all other Proxy's, and you can change the root
object as many times as you like.  See the "lacking-capabilities" list
below for a partial list of things that NXConnection can do that GNU
Connection cannot.]

To begin using distributed objects, you only need to know about
@samp{Connection} class.  You can see the full interface in
@samp{./objects/Connection.h}.  The long list of methods may be a little
daunting, but actually, a lot can be done with just a few key methods:

@smallexample
- (Connection*) newRegisteringAtName: (const char*)name
    withRootObject: anObj;
      For registering your server object with the network.

- (void) runConnection;
      For running the connection object returned by the above
      method, so that your server can start handling requests from
      clients. 

- (Proxy*) rootProxyAtName: (const char*)name 
    onHost: (const char*)host;
      For connecting to a remote server.  You get a proxy object for 
      the remote server object, which, for messaging purposes, you 
      can treat as if it were local.
@end smallexample

Here is a partial list of what the current distributed objects system
can do:
@smallexample
- It can pass and return all simple C types, including char*, float 
  and double, both by value and by reference.
- It can pass structures by value and by reference, return 
  structures by reference.  The structures can contain arrays.
- It obeys all the type qualifiers: oneway, in, out, inout, const.
- It can pass and return objects, either bycopy or with proxies.
  An object encoded multiple times in a single message is properly
  decoded on the other side.
- Proxies to remote objects are automatically created as they are
  returned.  Proxies passed back where they came from are decoded
  as the correct local object.
- It can wait for an incoming message and timeout after a 
  specified period.
- A server can handle multiple clients.
- The server will ask its delegate before making new connections.
- The server can make call-back requests of the client, and keep 
  it all straight even when the server has multiple clients.
- A client will automatically form a connection to another client 
  if an object from the other client is vended to it. (i.e. Always 
  make a direct connection rather than forwarding messages twice, 
  once into the server, from there out to the other client.)
- The server will clean up its connection to a client if the client 
  says goodbye (i.e. if the client connection is freed).
- When the connection is being freed it will send a invalidation 
  notification message to those objects that have registered for
  such notification.
- Servers and clients can be on different machines of different
  architectures; byte-order and all other architecture-dependent
  nits are taken care of for you.  You can have SPARC, i386, m68k, 
  and MIPS machines all distributed-object'ing away together in
  one big web of client-server connections!
@end smallexample

Here is a partial list of what the current distributed objects system
does *not* do: 
@smallexample
- Run multi-threaded.
- Detect port deaths (due to remote application crash, for example) 
  and do something graceful.
- Send exceptions in the server back to the client.
- Send messages with vararg arguments.
- Return structures by value.
- Use Mach ports, pass Mach ports, pass Mach virtual memory.
- Send messages more reliably than UDP.  It does detect reply
  timeouts and message-out-of-order conditions, but it's reaction 
  is simply to abort.
- Claim to be thoroughly tested.
@end smallexample

@end itemize


@section Where else to look

@subsection Examples

A few simple example programs can be found in @samp{./examples}.
Read and enjoy.  To compile them (after having compiled the library),
type @samp{make} in the @samp{examples} directory.

@itemize

@item @samp{dictionary.m} demonstrates the basic features of the
Dictionary object.

@item @samp{stdio-stream.m} creates a StdioStream object that points to
a file, writes to the file, then reads from the file.

@item @samp{textcoding.m} shows how you can archive an object to a file 
in a human-readable text format, and then read it back in again.  This
format is handy for editing archived objects with a text editor, and is
great when you want to modify/create an archive using a scripting
language like @samp{perl} or @samp{awk}.

@item @samp{first-server.m} and @samp{first-client.m} show the
distributed object version of ``Hello, world''.

@item @samp{second-server.m} and @samp{second-client.m} contain a more
complex demonstration of distributed objects, with multiple clients,
connection delegates, and invalidation notification.

@item @samp{port-server.m} and @samp{port-client.m} show a simple use of
Port objects.  Be warned, however, the interface to Port objects will
likely change in the near future.

@end itemize

@subsection Test Programs

Some of the programs I've used to test the library are in
@samp{./checks}.  Many of them are pretty messy, (desperately trying to
tickle that late night bug), but at least they show some code that works
when the library compiles correctly.  I'm looking for a volunteer to
write some nicely organized test cases using @samp{dejagnu}.  Any
takers?


@section Coming Soon...

More improvements to the library are on the way.  Closest in the
pipeline are String objects and better allocation/deallocation
conventions for objects.

These improvements will bring some changes to the current interfaces:
(1) Almost everywhere that the current methods now take (char*)
arguments, the new methods will take (String*) arguments.  (2) The use
of the method @samp{free} will be abolished and replaced by new
methods.

I'm trying to get these changes in place as soon as possible so that
you don't end up writing too much code that uses the old (i.e. current)
interfaces.  

Meanwhile, please use the library!  The small amount of changes you may
need to make won't be difficult, and the earlier I get usability
suggestions and bug reports, the sooner the fixes will come.


@section How can you help?

@itemize

@item Read the projects and  questions in the @samp{TODO} file.  If you
have any useful comments mail them to me!

@item
Give me feedback!  Tell me what you like; tell me what you think
could be better.  Send me bug reports.

@item
Donate classes.  If you write classes that fit in the libobjects
framework, I'd be happy to include them.

@end itemize

@example
Happy hacking!
       Andrew McCallum
       mccallum@@gnu.ai.mit.edu
@end example