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Attaching Second-Order Types to Methods in an Object-Oriented Language

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ECOOP’ 93 — Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 1993)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 707))

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Abstract

This paper proposes an extension of the notion of method as it is currently used in most object-oriented languages. We define polymethods as methods that we can attach directly to types, as opposed to classes and that we can describe with a second-order type. Two benefits result from this extension; first, the expressive power of the language is improved with better modeling abilities. Next, second-order types yield a more powerful (precise) type inference, which extends the range of static type checking in a truly extensible object-oriented language. We first show that extensible object-oriented languages present many difficulties for static type-checking and that second-order types are necessary to get stronger type-checking. We illustrate how to combine polymethods through type inheritance and propose a technique based on abstract interpretation to derive a second-order type for new polymethods.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bellcore, 445 South Street, Morristown, NJ, 07960, USA

    Yves Caseau

  2. Ecole Normale Supérieure, 45 rue d’Ulm, 75005, Paris, France

    Laurent Perron

Authors
  1. Yves Caseau
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  2. Laurent Perron
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre Universitaire d’Informatique, Université de Genève, 24, rue Général-Dufour, CH-1211, Genève 4, Switzerland

    Oscar M. Nierstrasz

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Caseau, Y., Perron, L. (1993). Attaching Second-Order Types to Methods in an Object-Oriented Language. In: Nierstrasz, O.M. (eds) ECOOP’ 93 — Object-Oriented Programming. ECOOP 1993. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 707. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-47910-4_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-47910-4_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-57120-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47910-9

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