class design question (inner classes)

[coxalan]

Bruno Medeiros Wrote:

> coxalan wrote:
> > Regan Heath Wrote:
> >> [...]
> >> Ok.  I think I have reached the limit of my usefulness here :)
> >>
> >> Someone else is bound to have some ideas.
> > 
> > It was my fear that I put too much technical mathematics stuff into my posting.
> > 
> > I already put this question (in C++ form) into a mathematical internet forum, but then the  OOP-design part of the discussion got stuck at a very basic level... :-)
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Now I rethought my question and how I can put it on a more abstract level to get out the math part.
> > 
> > I guess my problem comes down to this point:
> > 
> > class Outer {
> >     class Inner {
> >         [...]
> >     }
> >     [...]
> > }
> > 
> > main() {
> >     Outer a = new Outer();
> >     [... initialize many a.Inner objects here ...]
> > }
> > 
> > Once that "a" is initialized, the reference "a" stays constant all the time. So all further references/pointers to "a" are redundant. Especially, the references to "a" stored in "a.Inner" inner objects are redundant.
> > So if there was a way to tell the compiler that the reference "a" will never change, the compiler could do the optimization and skip all these inner-class-references.
> > 
> > Now the question is:
> > Is there currently a way to achieve a satisfying, equivalent result?
> > If not: Should I make this a feature request?
> > 
> > coxalan
> 
> I assume correctly that A == Outer in that example above?

Yes, sorry for that.
Above I corrected that line.
 
> Some questions: is the total number of instances of Outer constant and 
> known at compile time? If not, I think it's impossible to do what you want.

Yes, the number is known at compile time.

I guess I will start a new thread now that I understand my problem much clearer.

coxalan