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Modelling multiple inheritance with colimits

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Formal Aspects of Computing

Abstract

A categorical semantics of multiple inheritance is presented, in which the inheritance relations between program entities are represented as commutative diagrams in a suitable category, and multiple inheritance is then modelled with colimits of such diagrams. It is shown that the informal semantics of multiple inheritance used in existing object-oriented programming languages conforms to, or is consistent with, this model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science, School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, University of Sussex, BN1 9QM, Falmer, Brighton, UK

    Huimin Lin

  2. Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Man-Chi Pong

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  1. Huimin Lin
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  2. Man-Chi Pong
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Lin, H., Pong, MC. Modelling multiple inheritance with colimits. Formal Aspects of Computing 2, 301–311 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01888231

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01888231

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