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Object-oriented multi-methods in Cecil

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ECOOP ’92 European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 1992)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 615))

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Abstract

Multiple dispatching provides increased expressive power over single dispatching by guiding method lookup using the values of all arguments instead of only the receiver. However, existing languages with multiple dispatching do not encourage the data-abstraction-oriented programming style that is encouraged by traditional single-dispatching languages; instead existing multiple-dispatching languages tend to foster a function-oriented programming style organized around generic functions. We propose an alternative view of multiple dispatching that is intended to promote a data-abstraction-oriented programming style. Instead of viewing a multi-method as “outside” of all objects, we view a multi-method as “inside” the objects for which the multi-method applies (on which it dispatches). Because objects are closely connected to the multi-methods implementing their operations, the internals of an object can be encapsulated by being accessible only to the closely-connected multi-methods. We are exploring this object-oriented view of multi-methods in the context of a new programming language named Cecil.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, FR-35, 98195, Seattle, WA

    Craig Chambers

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  1. Craig Chambers
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Ole Lehrmann Madsen

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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Chambers, C. (1992). Object-oriented multi-methods in Cecil. In: Madsen, O.L. (eds) ECOOP ’92 European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming. ECOOP 1992. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 615. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0053029

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0053029

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-55668-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47268-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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