Abstract
This paper presents predicated generic functions, a novel programming language abstraction that allows the expression of context-dependent behaviour in a declarative and modular manner, providing fine-grained control of method applicability and method specificity. Methods are guarded by predicates with user-defined orderings, thereby increasing the expressiveness of existing method dispatching approaches. We have prototyped our proposal in Lambic, an extension of the standard Common Lisp Object System. We illustrate and motivate our approach by discussing the implementation of a collaborative graphical editor.
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Vallejos, J., González, S., Costanza, P., De Meuter, W., D’Hondt, T., Mens, K. (2010). Predicated Generic Functions. In: Baudry, B., Wohlstadter, E. (eds) Software Composition. SC 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6144. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14046-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14046-4_5
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