Class-based inheritance is not a basic concept, OOPSLA '93 Workshop W9 -- Position Paper

Class-based inheritance is not a basic concept, OOPSLA '93 Workshop W9 -- Position Paper

Franz J. Hauck

english July 1993, 5 pages

TR-I4-93-06

[Abstract] [Full Paper (ps,http) , 30 kB] [Full Paper (pdf) , 28 kB]

Abstract: Class-based inheritance is normally seen as a basic concept and a prerequisit of object-oriented programming. This position paper states that class-based inheritance is not essential for an object-oriented programming language. Instead of class-based inheritance aggregation, parametrical bindings, and aliasing can be used. Aggregation and parametrical bindings are basic concepts of an object model which are not only usefull for inheritance. Aliasing is syntactic sugar for forwarding of method invocations to other objects