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Objects with Multiple Most Specific Classes

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Book cover ECOOP’95 — Object-Oriented Programming, 9th European Conference, Åarhus, Denmark, August 7–11, 1995 (ECOOP 1995)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 952))

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Abstract

In most object-oriented data models objects must belong to a single most specific class. This exclusive link between an instance and a class is often not adequate to model real-world situations. In this paper, we present an approach where objects can belong to several most specific classes. We formally address how the resulting conflicts can be handled, both for structural and behavioral components of objects. In particular, we formalize a notion of context and characterize the state of an object in terms of the set of its most specific classes. Moreover, we discuss two different dispatching approaches, one allowing context-dependent behavior, the other one ensuring behavior identity.

Work partially supported by the EEC under ESPRIT Project 6333 IDEA.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Informazione, Università di Milano, Milano, Italy

    Elisa Bertino

  2. Dipartimento di Informatica e Scienze dell’Informazione, Università di Genova, Genova, Italy

    Giovanna Guerrini

Authors
  1. Elisa Bertino
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  2. Giovanna Guerrini
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, 223, Japan

    Mario Tokoro

  2. Rank Xerox Research Centre, 6 Chemin de Maupertuis, F-38240, Meylan, France

    Remo Pareschi

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© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Bertino, E., Guerrini, G. (1995). Objects with Multiple Most Specific Classes. In: Tokoro, M., Pareschi, R. (eds) ECOOP’95 — Object-Oriented Programming, 9th European Conference, Åarhus, Denmark, August 7–11, 1995. ECOOP 1995. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 952. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-49538-X_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-49538-X_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-60160-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49538-3

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