concept G22Variable extends ConceptWithChangeListeners is IPersistenceInfo {
  settableWithVar S name;
  settableWithVar volatile O value;
  settableWithVar bool persistent;
  
  // big = value is stored in separate file
  settableWithVar bool big;
  
  // field "value" is persisted iff field "persistent" is set
  public Map _persistenceInfo() { ret litmap(value := persistent); }
  
  void setValueIfNull(O defaultValue) {
    if (defaultValue != null && value == null) value(defaultValue);
  }
  
  O get() {
    if (big)
      ret getBigValue();
    ret value;
  }
  
  G22Utils g22utils() {
    ret main g22utils(_concepts());
  }
  
  File bigFile() {
    ret newFile(assertNotNull(g22utils().projectDir()), id + "-" + sanitizeFileName(name) + ".structgz");
  }
  
  O getBigValue() {
    File f = bigFile();
    ret unstructureGZFile(f, g22utils().classFinder());
  }
  
  void setBigValue(O value) {
    File f = bigFile();
    saveGZStructureToFile(f, value);
  }
  
  void deleteBigValue() {
    deleteFile(bigFile());
  }
  
  void makeBig {
    if (big || !persistent) ret;
    setBigValue(value);
    big(true);
    value(null);
  }
  
  void makeSmall {
    if (!big) ret;
    value(get());
    big(false);
    deleteBigValue();
  }
}