Appendix B. Objective C - Swarm Style

Table of Contents
B.1. Non-Conventional Techniques, And The Libraries In Which They're Used
B.2. Zones
B.2.1. Zones in Principle
B.2.2. Zones in Practice
B.3. Create Phase
B.3.1. The Create Phase in Principle
B.3.2. The Create Phase in Practice
B.4. Collections and Defobj

The Swarm system provides a few extensions to the syntax/style of Objective-C. This note describes those features which are important to know as a beginner and those which can be ignored. This is also peripherally relevant for Java programmers.

B.1. Non-Conventional Techniques, And The Libraries In Which They're Used

When building some of the internals of the Swarm system, we found that there was a need to add a certain amount of machinery to the conventional Objective C language. In particular, we found that the system used for object creation needed to be expanded. The main goal of this document is to explain very briefly what those changes are, and why the user need never know about them...

Even within the Swarm libraries, only the most fundamental ones require the usage of some of the magic described below. Essentially, only Defobj, Collections and Activity use the features described below. Nevertheless, there are some minor conventions, which as a consequence, must be used throughout the code.