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Generic Function
In computer programming, a generic function is a function defined for polymorphism. In statically typed languages In statically typed languages (such as C++ and Java), the term ''generic functions'' refers to a mechanism for ''compile-time polymorphism'' (static dispatch), specifically parametric polymorphism. These are functions defined with TypeParameters, intended to be resolved with compile time type information. The compiler uses these types to instantiate suitable versions, resolving any function overloading appropriately. In Common Lisp Object System In some systems for object-oriented programming such as the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS) and Dylan, a ''generic function'' is an entity made up of all methods having the same name. Typically a ''generic function'' is an instance of a class that inherits both from ''function'' and ''standard-object''. Thus generic functions are both functions (that can be called with and applied to arguments) and ordinary objects. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Programming
Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as analysis, generating algorithms, profiling algorithms' accuracy and resource consumption, and the implementation of algorithms (usually in a chosen programming language, commonly referred to as coding). The source code of a program is written in one or more languages that are intelligible to programmers, rather than machine code, which is directly executed by the central processing unit. The purpose of programming is to find a sequence of instructions that will automate the performance of a task (which can be as complex as an operating system) on a computer, often for solving a given problem. Proficient programming thus usually requires expertise in several different subjects, including knowledge of the application domain, specialized algori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inheritance (object-oriented Programming)
In object-oriented programming, inheritance is the mechanism of basing an object or class upon another object ( prototype-based inheritance) or class ( class-based inheritance), retaining similar implementation. Also defined as deriving new classes ( sub classes) from existing ones such as super class or base class and then forming them into a hierarchy of classes. In most class-based object-oriented languages, an object created through inheritance, a "child object", acquires all the properties and behaviors of the "parent object" , with the exception of: constructors, destructor, overloaded operators and friend functions of the base class. Inheritance allows programmers to create classes that are built upon existing classes, to specify a new implementation while maintaining the same behaviors ( realizing an interface), to reuse code and to independently extend original software via public classes and interfaces. The relationships of objects or classes through inheritance give ris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multiple Dispatch
Multiple dispatch or multimethods is a feature of some programming languages in which a function or method can be dynamically dispatched based on the run-time (dynamic) type or, in the more general case, some other attribute of more than one of its arguments. This is a generalization of single-dispatch polymorphism where a function or method call is dynamically dispatched based on the derived type of the object on which the method has been called. Multiple dispatch routes the dynamic dispatch to the implementing function or method using the combined characteristics of one or more arguments. Understanding dispatch Developers of computer software typically organize source code into named blocks variously called subroutines, procedures, subprograms, functions, or methods. The code in the function is executed by ''calling'' it – executing a piece of code that references its ''name''. This transfers control temporarily to the called function; when the function's execution has co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Single Dispatch
In computer science, dynamic dispatch is the process of selecting which implementation of a polymorphic operation (method or function) to call at run time. It is commonly employed in, and considered a prime characteristic of, object-oriented programming (OOP) languages and systems. Object-oriented systems model a problem as a set of interacting objects that enact operations referred to by name. Polymorphism is the phenomenon wherein somewhat interchangeable objects each expose an operation of the same name but possibly differing in behavior. As an example, a object and a object both have a method that can be used to write a personnel record to storage. Their implementations differ. A program holds a reference to an object which may be either a object or a object. Which it is may have been determined by a run-time setting, and at this stage, the program may not know or care which. When the program calls on the object, something needs to choose which behavior gets enacted. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Method (computer Science)
A method in object-oriented programming (OOP) is a procedure associated with a message and an object. An object consists of ''state data'' and ''behavior''; these compose an ''interface'', which specifies how the object may be utilized by any of its various consumers. A method is a behavior of an object parametrized by a consumer. Data is represented as properties of the object, and behaviors are represented as methods. For example, a Window object could have methods such as open and close, while its state (whether it is open or closed at any given point in time) would be a property. In class-based programming, methods are defined within a class, and objects are instances of a given class. One of the most important capabilities that a method provides is ''method overriding'' - the same name (e.g., area) can be used for multiple different kinds of classes. This allows the sending objects to invoke behaviors and to delegate the implementation of those behaviors to the receiving o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CommonLoops
CommonLoops (the Common Lisp Object-Oriented Programming System; an acronym reminiscent of the earlier Lisp OO system "Loops" for the Interlisp-D system) is an early programming language which extended Common Lisp to include Object-oriented programming functionality and is a dynamic object system which differs from the OOP facilities found in static languages such as C++ or Java. Like New Flavors, CommonLoops supported multiple inheritance, generic functions and method combination. CommonLoops also supported multi-methods and made use of metaobjects. CommonLoops and New Flavors were the primary ancestors of CLOS."Symbolics (1985) was using New Flavors (a message-sending model, like Java today), Xerox was using CommonLoops (Bobrow et al., 1986), Lisp Machine Incorporated was using Object Lisp , and Hewlett-Packard proposed using Common Objects (Kempf, 1987). The groups vied with each other in the context of the standardization effort going on for Common Lisp at the time and finally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flavors (programming Language)
Flavors, an early object-oriented extension to Lisp developed by Howard Cannon at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory for the Lisp machine and its programming language Lisp Machine Lisp, was the first programming language to include mixins. Symbolics used it for its Lisp machines, and eventually developed it into New Flavors; both the original and new Flavors were message passing OO models. It was hugely influential in the development of the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS). Implementations of Flavors are also available for Common Lisp. New Flavors replaced message sending with calling generic function In computer programming, a generic function is a function defined for polymorphism. In statically typed languages In statically typed languages (such as C++ and Java), the term ''generic functions'' refers to a mechanism for ''compile-time pol ...s. Flavors offers and daemons with the default method combination (called ). Flavors and CLOS features comparison Fla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Art Of The Metaobject Protocol
''The Art of the Metaobject Protocol'' (AMOP) is a 1991 book by Gregor Kiczales, Jim des Rivieres, and Daniel G. Bobrow (all three working for Xerox PARC) on the subject of metaobject protocol. Overview The book contains an explanation of what a metaobject protocol is, why it is desirable, and the ''de facto'' standard for the metaobject protocol supported by many Common Lisp implementations as an extension of the Common Lisp Object System, or CLOS. A more complete and portable implementation of CLOS and the metaobject protocol, as defined in this book, was provided by Xerox PARC as Portable Common Loops. The book presents a simplified CLOS implementation for Common Lisp called "Closette", which for the sake of pedagogical brevity does not include some of the more complex or exotic CLOS features such as forward-referencing of superclasses, full class and method redefinitions, advanced user-defined method combinations, and complete integration of CLOS classes with Common Lisp's typ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dylan (programming Language)
Dylan is a multi-paradigm programming language that includes support for functional and object-oriented programming (OOP), and is dynamic and reflective while providing a programming model designed to support generating efficient machine code, including fine-grained control over dynamic and static behaviors. It was created in the early 1990s by a group led by Apple Computer. Dylan derives from Scheme and Common Lisp and adds an integrated object system derived from the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS). In Dylan, all values (including numbers, characters, functions, and classes) are first-class objects. Dylan supports multiple inheritance, polymorphism, multiple dispatch, keyword arguments, object introspection, pattern-based syntax extension macros, and many other advanced features. Programs can express fine-grained control over dynamism, admitting programs that occupy a continuum between dynamic and static programming and supporting evolutionary development (allowing for rapid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polymorphism (computer Science)
In programming language theory and type theory, polymorphism is the provision of a single interface to entities of different types or the use of a single symbol to represent multiple different types.: "Polymorphic types are types whose operations are applicable to values of more than one type." The concept is borrowed from a principle in biology where an organism or species can have many different forms or stages. The most commonly recognized major classes of polymorphism are: * ''Ad hoc polymorphism'': defines a common interface for an arbitrary set of individually specified types. * ''Parametric polymorphism'': not specifying concrete types and instead use abstract symbols that can substitute for any type. * ''Subtyping'' (also called ''subtype polymorphism'' or ''inclusion polymorphism''): when a name denotes instances of many different classes related by some common superclass. History Interest in polymorphic type systems developed significantly in the 1960s, with practica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Lisp Object System
The Common Lisp Object System (CLOS) is the facility for object-oriented programming which is part of ANSI Common Lisp. CLOS is a powerful dynamic object system which differs radically from the OOP facilities found in more static languages such as C++ or Java. CLOS was inspired by earlier Lisp object systems such as MIT Flavors and CommonLoops, although it is more general than either. Originally proposed as an add-on, CLOS was adopted as part of the ANSI standard for Common Lisp and has been adapted into other Lisp dialects such as EuLisp or Emacs Lisp. Features The basic building blocks of CLOS are methods, classes, instances of those classes, and generic functions. CLOS provides macros to define those: defclass, defmethod, and defgeneric. Instances are created with the method make-instance. Classes can have multiple superclasses, a list of slots (member variables in C++/Java parlance) and a special metaclass. Slots can be allocated by class (all instances of a class share th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
