Safe metaclass composition using mixin-based inheritance

In the context of meta-programming and reflective languages, classes are treated as full fledged objects which are instances of other classes named metaclasses. Metaclasses have proved to be useful for defining new class properties. Examples of such properties are lazy memory allocation, multiple inheritance, having a single instance. . . A class with some property is obtained by instantiating a metaclass which implements the desired property. However, instantiation allows assigning to a class only properties defined by a single metaclass. A composition mechanism is needed to reuse properties defined by different metaclasses and assign them to a given class. This composition should be performed without breaking class-metaclass compatibility. The compatibility issue arises when a class is coupled to its metaclass. So, when composing metaclasses, we need to take care of such coupling to avoid run-time exceptions. In this paper, we explore the use of mixin-based inheritance to perform me...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2004
• Where: CL
• Authors: Noury Bouraqadi
• Keywords: Automated Reasoning, CL 2004, Class Properties, Metaclasses, Mixin-based Inheritance