[Nestmates] Draft core reflection API

[Michael Rasmussen]

Just a stray observation (from an observer).

Isn't using two different terms in the API bound to cause confusion for
users?
getNestMembers vs isNestmateOf

Wouldn't it be more intuitive if they used the same term, getNestmates &
isNestmateOf, or partly removed the term, something like getNestMembers &
isNestedWith

Kind regards
Michael Rasmussen


On 7 November 2017 at 14:25, Brian Goetz <brian.goetz at oracle.com> wrote:

> That's a good description of what a nest mate is.  What could be added is
> a reference the the jvms section that defines it, and a comment that says
> it is up to the source language compiler to decide what classes are nest
> mates , and that java puts inner classes in the nest of their enclosing
> class (w jlink ref).  This could be moved to a section in the package
> javadoc and referenced from the Class doc.
>
> Sent from my MacBook Wheel
>
> > On Nov 7, 2017, at 11:31 AM, David Holmes <david.holmes at oracle.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Brian,
> >
> > Thanks for the prompt review!
> >
> >> On 7/11/2017 6:41 PM, Brian Goetz wrote:
> >> The specs are fine. But a reader who doesn't know what a nest is will
> never figure it out from the docs.  Would be good if nest host had an API
> note that explained how classes become nestmantes.
> >
> > True - though I would prefer it if there were some definitive source we
> could refer to that explains this rather than putting an ad-hoc definition
> into the API docs. Perhaps we need something in the JLS (as API docs tend
> not to reference the JVMS). ??
> >
> > Otherwise ...
> >
> > "A nest is a set of classes (nest mates) that form an access control
> context in which each class has access to the private members of the other
> classes in the nest. The set of classes consisting of a top-level class
> plus all of its nested classes, is an example of a nest. The nest host is
> the class designated to hold the list of classes that make up the nest, and
> to which each of the other nest mates refer - a top-level class is always a
> nest host."
> >
> > But it gets messy if you then have to explain that unless compiled for
> nest mates, every class is considered its own nest and nest host.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > David
> >
> >
> >
> >> Sent from my MacBook Wheel
> >>> On Nov 7, 2017, at 7:26 AM, David Holmes <david.holmes at oracle.com>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> For comment:
> >>>
> >>> http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~dholmes/8188075/webrev/raw_
> files/new/java/lang/Class.html#getNestHost()
> >>>
> >>> Three functions added:
> >>> - getNestHost
> >>> - isNestmateOf
> >>> - getNestMembers
> >>>
> >>> The first two never throw exceptions related to nest hosts or nest
> membership. The third does.
> >>>
> >>> Thanks,
> >>> David
>
>