Visual Smalltalk Enterprise ™ ™ Language Reference P46-0201-00 Copyright © 1999–2000 Cincom Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright © 1999–2000 Seagull Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This product contains copyrighted third-party software. Part Number: P46-0201-00 Software Release 3.2 This document is subject to change without notice. RESTRICTED RIGHTS LEGEND: Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013. Trademark acknowledgments: CINCOM, CINCOM SYSTEMS, and the Cincom logo are registered trademarks of Cincom Systems, Inc. Visual Smalltalk is a trademark of Cincom Systems, Inc., its subsidiaries, or successors and are registered in the United States and other countries. Microsoft Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft, Inc. Win32 is a trademark of Microsoft, Inc. OS/2 is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation. 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Cincom Systems, Inc. 55 Merchant Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45246 Phone: (513) 612-2300 Fax: (513) 612-2000 World Wide Web: http://www.cincom.com Contents Preface ........................................................................................ xv About This Manual ................................................................xv Notation Conventions ................................................xvii Chapter 1 The Smalltalk Language Overview ................................................................................19 Language Changes .................................................................19 Identifiers ...............................................................................20 Literals ...........................................................................20 Variables ........................................................................26 Variable Shadowing ......................................................30 Pseudovariables ............................................................31 Messages ................................................................................31 Sequences of Messages ................................................35 Cascading Messages .....................................................35 Parsing Expressions ....................................................36 Method Syntax .......................................................................37 Message Pattern ............................................................37 Comments .....................................................................38 Assigning Values to Variables ......................................38 Returning Values ...........................................................39 Blocks ...........................................................................39 Control Structures ..................................................................40 Conditional Execution ..................................................41 Iterative Execution ........................................................41 Boolean Evaluation ......................................................42 Evaluating Blocks .........................................................42 Language Upgrade Support ..................................................43 Compiler Options .........................................................43 Conversion Tools ..........................................................45 Chapter 2 Basic Building Blocks Overview ................................................................................47 Object Class ...........................................................................48 Creating and Destroying Instances ..............................48 Accessing Instances ......................................................49 Equality and Identity ....................................................49 Hash Values ..................................................................50 Visual Smalltalk Enterprise Language Reference iii Contents Testing ...........................................................................50 Copying .........................................................................51 Evaluating Messages .....................................................51 Events ............................................................................52 Reporting Exceptions ...................................................57 Object Descriptions ......................................................57 Object Finalization ........................................................58 Boolean Classes .....................................................................59 Boolean Expressions ....................................................59 Magnitude Classes ..................................................................60 Magnitude .....................................................................61 Character .......................................................................62 Date, Time and TimeStamp .........................................65 Numbers ........................................................................67 Float ...............................................................................70 Fraction .........................................................................71 Integer ...........................................................................71 Collection Classes ..................................................................72 Attributes of the Collection Class .................................73 Enumerating Collections ..............................................74 Converting Collections .................................................76 Creating Instances .........................................................76 Common Protocol .........................................................77 Class Bag .......................................................................78 Class HashedCollection ................................................78 Class Set ........................................................................79 Class Dictionary ............................................................79 Class IdentityDictionary ................................................79 Class IndexedCollection ...............................................79 Class FixedSizeCollection .............................................80 Class OrderedCollection ...............................................81 Class SortedCollection ..................................................82 Stream Classes ........................................................................82 Accessing Protocol ........................................................84 Positioning and Reading Protocol ...............................84 Writing Protocol ............................................................86 File System Interface Classes .................................................87 Files ...............................................................................87 Opening and Accessing Files .......................................88 Directories .....................................................................89 File Association .............................................................89 Pattern ....................................................................................91 PropertyManager ....................................................................92 Accessing Properties .....................................................93 iv Visual Smalltalk Enterprise Language Reference Chapter 3 The Graphics Model Overview ................................................................................95 The Coordinate System .........................................................96 Coordinate System Independence ...............................97 Setting Graphics Display Units ....................................97 Graphic Classes ......................................................................98 Point ..............................................................................98 Rectangle ....................................................................101 GraphicsMedium Classes .....................................................103 GraphicsMedium ........................................................104 Bitmap .........................................................................104 StoredPicture ...............................................................106 Printer .........................................................................107 Screen .........................................................................108 Window ......................................................................109 Graphics Tool Classes .........................................................109