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A denotational semantics of inheritance and its correctness

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Published:01 September 1989Publication History

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a denotational model of inheritance. The model is based on an intuitive motivation of the purpose of inheritance. The correctness of the model is demonstrated by proving it equivalent to an operational semantics of inheritance based upon the method-lookup algorithm of object-oriented languages. Although it was originally developed to explain inheritance in object-oriented languages, the model shows that inheritance is a general mechanism that may be applied to any form of recursive definition.

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          • Published in

            cover image ACM Conferences
            OOPSLA '89: Conference proceedings on Object-oriented programming systems, languages and applications
            September 1989
            528 pages
            ISBN:0897913337
            DOI:10.1145/74877
            • cover image ACM SIGPLAN Notices
              ACM SIGPLAN Notices  Volume 24, Issue 10
              Special issue: Proceedings of the 1989 ACM OOPSLA conference on object-oriented programming
              Oct. 1989
              446 pages
              ISSN:0362-1340
              EISSN:1558-1160
              DOI:10.1145/74878
              Issue’s Table of Contents

            Copyright © 1989 ACM

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            Publication History

            • Published: 1 September 1989

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