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MultiJava: modular open classes and symmetric multiple dispatch for Java

Authors:

Curtis Clifton,

Gary T. Leavens,

Craig Chambers,

Todd MillsteinAuthors Info & Claims

OOPSLA '00: Proceedings of the 15th ACM SIGPLAN conference on Object-oriented programming, systems, languages, and applications

Pages 130 - 145

https://doi.org/10.1145/353171.353181

Published: 01 October 2000 Publication History

Abstract

We present MultiJava, a backward-compatible extension to Java supporting open classes and symmetric multiple dispatch. Open classes allow one to add to the set of methods that an existing class supports without creating distinct subclasses or editing existing code. Unlike the "Visitor" design pattern, open classes do not require advance planning, and open classes preserve the ability to add new subclasses modularly and safely. Multiple dispatch offers several well-known advantages over the single dispatching of conventional object-oriented languages, including a simple solution to some kinds of "binary method" problems. MultiJava's multiple dispatch retains Java's existing class-based encapsulation properties. We adapt previous theoretical work to allow compilation units to be statically typechecked modularly and safely, ruling out any link-time or run-time type errors. We also present a n compilation scheme that operates modularly and incurs performance overhead only where open classes or multiple dispatching are actually used.

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Index Terms

MultiJava: modular open classes and symmetric multiple dispatch for Java
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Compilers
    2. General programming languages
      1. Language types
        Object oriented languages

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cover image ACM Conferences

OOPSLA '00: Proceedings of the 15th ACM SIGPLAN conference on Object-oriented programming, systems, languages, and applications

October 2000

402 pages

ISBN:158113200X

DOI:10.1145/353171

Chairmen:
Mary Beth Rosson
Virginia Tech.
,
Doug Lea
SUNY Oswego

ACM SIGPLAN Notices Volume 35, Issue 10
Oct. 2000
402 pages
ISSN:0362-1340
EISSN:1558-1160
DOI:10.1145/354222
Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2000 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 01 October 2000

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Cited By

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/ITSC.2016.7795888
HUANG XZHAO JOLIVEIRA B(2021)Taming the Merge OperatorJournal of Functional Programming10.1017/S095679682100018631Online publication date: 2-Nov-2021
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956796821000186
Belyakova JMurray TErnst G(2019)Decidable tag-based semantic subtyping for nominal types, tuples, and unionsProceedings of the 21st Workshop on Formal Techniques for Java-like Programs10.1145/3340672.3341115(1-11)Online publication date: 15-Jul-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3340672.3341115
Park GHong JSteele Jr. GRyu S(2019)Polymorphic symmetric multiple dispatch with varianceProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/32903243:POPL(1-28)Online publication date: 2-Jan-2019
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Zappa Nardelli FBelyakova JPelenitsyn AChung BBezanson JVitek J(2018)Julia subtyping: a rational reconstructionProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/32764832:OOPSLA(1-27)Online publication date: 24-Oct-2018
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Khomh FGueheneuc Y(2018)Design patterns impact on software quality: Where are the theories?2018 IEEE 25th International Conference on Software Analysis, Evolution and Reengineering (SANER)10.1109/SANER.2018.8330193(15-25)Online publication date: Mar-2018
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Ostermann KJabs J(2018)Dualizing Generalized Algebraic Data Types by Matrix TranspositionProgramming Languages and Systems10.1007/978-3-319-89884-1_3(60-85)Online publication date: 14-Apr-2018
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Springer MMasuhara HHirschfeld R(2017)A Layer-based Approach to Hierarchical Dynamically-scoped Open ClassesJournal of Information Processing10.2197/ipsjjip.25.29625(296-307)Online publication date: 2017
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Åkesson AHedin GBockisch CVanter M(2017)Jatte: a tunable tree editor for integrated DSLsProceedings of the 2nd ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Comprehension of Complex Systems10.1145/3141842.3141844(7-12)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2017
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