Squeak: getting the source code of a method in run-time

Question

I'm writing a small program that modifies a method during run-time in squeak. I saw that in squeak there is a method called getSource (defined in CompiledMethod class), that returns the source code of the compiled method.

How do I get the source code of a method if my input is a Symbol that is corresponding to a method?

Answer 1

You should know the class in which the method is defined, then you can access the CompiledMethod via, eg,

theClass >> methodSelectorSymbol

or

theClass compiledMethodAt: methodSelectorSymbol

with theClass being the class with the method and methodSelectorSymbol is the Symbol that corresponds to the method, ie, your input. There are further approaches, too. For example,

theClass lookupSelector: methodSelectorSymbol

not only searches in theClass but also in its superclasses.

However, all approaches require that you give a class as starting point.