Open AccessWhat is Type-Safe Code Reuse?
Author(s) -
Jens Palsberg,
Michael I. Schwartzbach
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
daimi pb
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2245-9316
pISSN - 0105-8517
DOI - 10.7146/dpb.v19i342.6572
Subject(s) - programming language , computer science , reuse , correctness , type safety , smalltalk , code reuse , interpreter , class (philosophy) , abstraction , code (set theory) , object oriented programming , artificial intelligence , software , engineering , philosophy , set (abstract data type) , epistemology , waste management
Subclassing is reuse of class definitions. It is usually tied to the use of class names, thus relying on the order in which the particular classes in a program are created. This is a burden, however, both when programming and in theoretical studies. This paper presents a structural notion of subclassing for typed languages. It is a direct abstraction of the SMALLTALK interpreter and the separate compilation technique of MODULA. We argue that it is the most general mechanism which can be supported by the implementation while relying on the type-correctness of superclasses. In short, it captures type-safe code reuse.