Re: Inheritance versus Generics

[bertrand@eiffel.com]

 Mats Weber as quoted by Matthew Heaney:
>
> >You can simulate generics with inheritance (the technique is described
> >in Meyer's "Object Oriented Software Construction"

Just a small clarification: the discussion (appendix B in the
recent edition of my book, entitled "Genericity vs. Inheritance"
and the n-th iteration of an article originally in the first
OOPSLA conference in 1986) shows that inheritance
can simulate some aspects of genericity, but not all,
and that genericity by itself can
only cover a small part of inheritance. On the basis of this
analysis it concludes that one needs both mechanisms, and deduces
the precise combination that appears adequate to cover all
needs at minimal complexity.

> P.S. He actually has a link to your dissertation in his book, Mats.

Right... I must say I am impressed by the amount and quality of
Ada 95-related material available on the Web.

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