Re-use Variables: A New Technique for Code Re-use in OO Programs

Speaker: J. Leslie Keedy, Head, Dept Computer Structures, University of Ulm

When: 10:00, Thursday, 1 April, 2004

Venue: 78-420

Abstract: The standard approach to code reuse in object oriented languages is via inheritance. This is restrictive in a number of ways. First, it leads to well known conflicts between subtyping and subclassing. Second, where no type relationship exists, programmers must resort to inefficient techniques such as delegation to achieve code reuse. Third, it is difficult to organize the inheritance of multiple code units. Fourth, inheritance of code is difficult to reconcile with the multiple reuse of state (as in repeated inheritance). The talk describes how the language  Timor decouples inheritance and code reuse and presents a new concept known as re-use variables, showing how these can be used to eliminate such restrictions in object oriented and component oriented contexts.

Hospitality: TBA

Contact: Prof Paul Bailes (SSE seminar co-ordinator) (p.bailes@epsa.uq.edu.au)

SSE seminar web page: http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~sse/Seminars.html