The runtime type system

[Lauri Alanko <la iki fi>]

Hello.

Am I mistaken, or is there no way of registering new boxed values? There are a
couple registered in gtktypebuiltins, but there is no exported function for
registering more in run time. Is there some reason for this?

Also, wouldn't there be some sense in allowing subtyping for more of
fundamental gtk types? Runtime information of a more exact type of a callback
or a signal might be useful at times. Each type could have a param type list
and marshaller associated with them.

I'm a bit befuddled by the dynamic arg system, too. Semantically, it exports
abstract attributes which have a type and which can be read and set, but this
is implemented as a rather complex dispatch system which may do a lot more
than just get or set a struct member. Seems like the worst of both worlds to
me.

I would have expected either a simple semi-automated system for accessing a
member of a struct with known offset and type, or then a real dynamic method
dispatch with multiple parameters, similar to the signal system. What's the
reasoning with the current system.

Oh, one more thing: is GTK_RUN_ACTION really just a keyboard
accelerator-specific kludge? If so, is there any chance of moving it out from
GtkSignalRunType? If this continues, the separation of the object and widget
systems will become real hard later on..


Lauri Alanko
la@iki.fi