On Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 2:54 PM, Robert P. Goldman rpgoldman@sift.info wrote:
I think what Faré is pointing out is that one could build, for example, an introspection library by adding for example, PERFORM methods that would dispatch on OPERATION and that would catch *all* PERFORMS and write a log or something like that.
If we no longer make OPERATION the root of the hierarchy then such introspection libraries will no longer work.
I was more thinking about people defining methods on operation.
less -p 'defmethod.* operation)' $(grep -il 'defmethod.* operation)' ~/quicklisp/dists/quicklisp/software/**/*.{asd,lisp}) Reveals 9 files beside copies of ASDF that define methods on operation. Some of them may or may not be affected in practice by making operation not the root of the hierarchy. POIU also does it, though if you change the base class incompatibly, I can update POIU.
ITA's QRes also defines methods on operation (as you can see in the parts that were open sourced); maybe other proprietary systems do, too. Once again, if anyone is extending ASDF in proprietary system (or just ones not on quicklisp), he'd be well-advised to be on this mailing-list.
—♯ƒ • François-René ÐVB Rideau •Reflection&Cybernethics• http://fare.tunes.org People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character. — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)