Papers describing Inheritance

Inheriting Multiple and Repeated Parts in Timor [22]

http://www.jot.fm/issues/issue_2004_11/article1

Journal of Object Technology

Abstract:

The paper describes one aspect of multiple inheritance in the Timor programming language, viz. how "parts" such as a type Radio and a type Cassette Player can be inherited, where appropriate repeatedly, in subtypes such as a Radio Double Cassette Player. Because such types can also be defined via aggregation the paper begins by comparing inheritance with aggregation. It then shows how such cases can be handled first at the type level and then at the implementation level in Timor.

 

Diamond Inheritance and Attribute Types in Timor [23]

http://www.jot.fm/issues/issue_2004_11/article2

Journal of Object Technology

Abstract:

In Timor multiple inheritance of methods from a common abstract ancestor (e.g. Collection) and of separate "parts" (possibly repeatedly) from distinct supertypes (e.g. a Radio, a Cassette Player) are handled in different ways. The paper shows that neither technique is suitable for cases where a common concrete ancestor (e.g. Person) is specialised in different subtypes (e.g. as a Student, an Employee) and then brought together in a new subtype, possibly with repeated inheritance (e.g. a Doubly Employed Student). For such cases a new kind of type ("attribute types") is proposed, which provides an alternative programming paradigm to inheritance, based on the idea of adjectives and their use in noun phrases in natural languages.