[mcclim-devel] DESCRIBE-OBJECT methods

[rpgoldman at real-time.com]

>>>>> "AH" == Andy Hefner <ahefner at gmail.com> writes:

    AH> I think the underlying issue is that conses are printed via the lisp
    AH> printer, and it does not know to output the objects as presentations
    AH> so that you can invoke describe and/or the inspector on the individual
    AH> elements. The master plan (if there is one) involves writing a
    AH> portable replacement for the pretty printer that is aware of
    AH> presentations. I believe Gilbert Baumann has done a substantial
    AH> portion of this work, but the effort has stalled as he is busy
    AH> elsewhere.

    AH> An alternate stopgap measure would be a presentation method for lists
    AH> which presents each element of the list contents itself rather than
    AH> relying on the lisp printer. Then you get roped into reimplementing
    AH> the formatting and printer controls yourself..

Yes, my describe-object for lists was intended to provide such a
stopgap.  Is it an acceptable stopgap?  I realize that the formatting
is pretty crummy (e.g., nested lists aren't indented, etc.), but do
you think it could be extended?  Any particular direction to go?  Or
is there a fatal shortsightedness somewhere?  Suggestions for things
that would make this more useful?

Thanks,
R