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I’ve been wondering about the shape of a Borges application. The best example that comes with the distro is SushiNet, so I cracked it open and had a peek.

The highest level description of the application flow in SushiNet is in SushiNet::StoreTask, which is a subclass of Borges::TaskFrame. The application flow is described in the #go method of the task frame, and this is also where the whole application is registered with register_application 'store', SushiNet::StoreSession. Control is shuffled to other controllers with the #call method.

After reading on a bit, and abandoning my stream of consciousness for a few minutes, and then jumping across to the Seaside version, its pretty clear that the Borges sample is not quite up to the same state of development as the Squeak version. This is to be expected, of course. The shape of the two are however, comparable, and the naming conventions are the same, so I can better understand the Squeak code with reference to the Ruby. Compare the Ruby SushiNet::StoreTask#go:

  def go
    browse

    until checkout_successful do
      browse
    end

    say_goodbye
  end

with the Squeak:

go
  | shipping billing creditCard |
  cart _ WAStoreCart new.
  self session isolate:
    [[self fillCart.
      self confirmContentsOfCart]
        whileFalse].

  self session isolate:
    [shipping _ self getShippingAddress.
      billing _ (self useAsBillingAddress: shipping)
        ifFalse: [self getBillingAddress]
        ifTrue: [shipping].
      creditCard _ self getPaymentInfo.
      self shipTo: shipping billTo: billing payWith: creditCard].

  self displayConfirmation.

Obviously, the second isolate, picking up the billing details, isn’t yet implemented. More later. Sleep now.

Update: the permalink wasn’t working. I don’t think I’ve quite ironed out all of the kinks in my blogware..