Re: why are signals strings instead of integer constants?

["Michael K. Johnson" <johnsonm redhat com>]

Elliot Lee writes:
>Because it's more flexible.
>
>Internally, signals are represented as numbers to speed up signal
>emissions and such, but stuff that humans can read (i.e. character
>strings) is so much easier to deal with, and infinitely more flexible ;-)

In particular, gtk widgets that are not part of the gtk+ distribution
can add new signals without having to have a central signal ID
registry.

Because signal names are translated internally to numbers, the cost
of using them is minimal; they are translated when signal handlers
are set up, not when the signal handlers are called.

michaelkjohnson

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