A simple technique for handling multiple polymorphism

  • Authors:
  • Daniel H. H. Ingalls

  • Affiliations:
  • Apple Computer, Inc.

  • Venue:
  • OOPLSA '86 Conference proceedings on Object-oriented programming systems, languages and applications
  • Year:
  • 1986

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Abstract

Certain situations arise in programming that lead to multiply polymorphic expressions, that is, expressions in which several terms may each be of variable type. In such situations, conventional object-oriented programming practice breaks down, leading to code which is not properly modular. This paper describes a simple approach to such problems which preserves all the benefits of good object-oriented programming style in the face of any degree of polymorphism. An example is given in Smalltalk-80 syntax, but the technique is relevant to all object-oriented languages.