Name binding

In programming languages, name binding is the association of entities (data and/or code) with identifiers. An identifier bound to an object is said to reference that object. Machine languages have no built-in notion of identifiers, but name-object bindings as a service and notation for the programmer is implemented by programming languages. Binding is intimately connected with scoping, as scope determines which names bind to which objects – at which locations in the program code ( lexically) and in which one of the possible execution paths ( temporally).

Use of an identifier in a context that establishes a binding for is called a binding (or defining) occurrence. In all other occurrences (e.g., in expressions, assignments, and subprogram calls), an identifier stands for what it is bound to; such occurrences are called applied occurrences.

Binding time

* ''Static binding'' (or ''early binding'') is name binding performed before the program is run.
* ''Dynamic binding'' (or ''late binding'' or ''virtual binding'') is name binding performed as the program is running.

An example of a static binding is a direct C function call: the function referenced by the identifier cannot change at runtime.

An example of dynamic binding is dynamic dispatch, as in a C++ virtual method call. Since the specific type of a polymorphic object is not known before runtime (in general), the executed function is dynamically bound. Take, for example, the following Java code:

public void foo(java.util.List list)

List is an interface, so list must refer to a subtype of it. list may reference a LinkedList, an ArrayList, or some other subtype of List. The method referenced by add is not known until runtime. In C, such an instance of dynamic binding may be a call to a function pointed to by a variable or expression of a function pointer type whose value is unknown until it is evaluated at run-time.

Rebinding and mutation

Rebinding should not be confused with mutation.

* ''Rebinding'' is a change to the ''referencing'' identifier.
* ''Mutation'' is a change to the ''referenced'' entity.

Consider the following Java code:

LinkedList list;
list = new LinkedList();
list.add("foo");
list = null;

The identifier list initially references nothing (it is uninitialized); it is then rebound to reference an object (a linked list of strings). The linked list referenced by list is then mutated, adding a string to the list. Lastly, list is rebound to null.

Late static

Late static binding is a variant of binding somewhere between static and dynamic binding. Consider the following PHP example:

class A

class B extends A

B::hello();

In this example, the PHP interpreter binds the keyword self inside A::hello() to class A, and so the call to B::hello() produces the string "hello". If the semantics of self::$word had been based on late static binding, then the result would have been "bye".

Beginning with PHP version 5.3, late static binding is supported. Specifically, if self::$word in the above were changed to static::$word as shown in the following block, where the keyword static would only be bound at runtime, then the result of the call to B::hello() would be "bye":

class A

class B extends A

B::hello();

See also

* Late binding
* Branch table method of applying name binding via branch table or function pointers
* Dynamic dispatch
* Higher-order abstract syntax (HOAS)

References

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Programming language concepts
Articles with example Java code
Definition

ja:束縛 (情報工学)
pt:Vinculação de nomes (computação)