In the runtime library, a selector is identifyable by a string which is called the selector's name. This name consists of the name parts and an abbreviated form of the argument and return types. The abbreviated type names are:
Table 7-2. Selector type encodings
| char | type |
|---|---|
| v | void |
| o | boolean |
| b | byte |
| c | char |
| i | int |
| l | long |
| f | float |
| d | double |
| p | pointer |
| s | selector |
| r | object reference |
| x | dynamic |
The following table shows examples: for several method declarations the name of the corresponding selector.
[Grammar desired.]
Table 7-3. Example selector name encodings
| method | selector |
|---|---|
| int value; | "(i)value" |
| void setValue float d; | "(v)setValue(d)" |
| (Foo) bar (int, double) (a, b) with: int c = 0; | "(r)bar(id)with:(i)" |
[Actually, this is the future syntax. Currently, it is ambiguous, hence replaceable.]
In C, a selector is defined by a struct; The struct selector is the direct implementation of the TOM selectors.
typedef struct selector
{
unsigned int sel_id;
struct name name;
struct trt_selector_args *in, *out;
} *selector;
|
This is the unique identity of a selector. All selectors have such an identity in the closed enumeration of all selectors. Every two selectors with identical name, argument types and return types have the same identity. If no dynamic loading has taken place, the following is true for any two selectors a and b:
[Actually, it isn't any longer.]
a->sel_id == b->sel_id <-> a == b. |
the name of the selector. This has two fields: s being the zero terminated string, and len being its length.
the selector argument descriptions for the arguments to (in) and return value from (out) methods denoted by this selector.