[racket-dev] [racket] Question about fields in Racket OO

To quote the class* documentation:
(http://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/createclass.html#%28part._clfields%29)

"Each field, init-field, and non-method define-values clause in a
class declares one or more new fields for the class. Fields declared
with field or init-field are public."

So only the public ones are accessible via get-field.

Carl Eastlund

On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 8:56 AM, Jay McCarthy <jay.mccarthy at gmail.com> wrote:
> Does 'define' really mean 'make a field'? I thought fields had to be
> specially designated so that get-field would know about them...
> Yes, this program errors:
> #lang racket
> (define c%
>   (class* object% ()
>     (field [x 1])
>     (define y 2)
>     (super-new)))
> (define o (new c%))
> (field-names o)
> (get-field x o)
> (get-field y o)
> --
> I agree that 'define' is like making a field, but fields are something
> special too.
> Jay
> On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 6:51 AM, Robby Findler <robby at eecs.northwestern.edu>
> wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 12:22 AM, Mark Engelberg
>> <mark.engelberg at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > OK, it works when the set! occurs after the super-new.  I didn't think
>> > set!
>> > would work at all in a class definition (as opposed to within a method);
>> > I
>> > was thinking of the whole system of defining classes as more of a
>> > declarative DSL that only allowed certain constructs.
>>
>> You've probably already figured this out, but the body of a class is a
>> series of definitions and expressions like at the top-level but
>> 'define' taking on the meaning of 'make a field', and a bunch of new
>> definitions appearing. The new stuff says what the methods are, but
>> everything else is just executed in sequence as if it were in the body
>> of the initializer (if this were in Java, say).
>>
>> hth,
>> Robby