A protoype-based approach to object evolution

By: Alberto Ciaffaglione, Pietro Di Gianantonio, Furio Honsell, Luigi Liquori

Abstract

We investigate, in the context of functional prototype-based languages, a calculus of objects which might extend themselves upon receiving a message, a capability referred to by Cardelli as a self-inflicted operation. We present a sound type system for this calculus which guarantees that evaluating a well-typed expression will never yield a message-not-found runtime error. The resulting calculus is an attempt towards the definition of a language combining the safety advantage of static type checking with the flexibility found in dynamically typed languages.

Keywords

Prototype-based calculi, Static typing, Object reclassification.

Cite as:

Alberto Ciaffaglione, Pietro Di Gianantonio, Furio Honsell, Luigi Liquori, “A protoype-based approach to object evolution”, Journal of Object Technology, Volume 20, no. 2 ( 2021), pp. 2:1-24, doi:10.5381/jot.2021.20.2.a4.