> I would say that virtual functions in one form or another are one of > the cornerstones of a typical OO languages because they are exactly > the feature used for extending objects. > > The same can be probably done without inheritance and virtual methods > by defining an interface and implementing it differently in different > objects. > > Translating code between the two would be somewhat difficult I guess, though.
if you look at it as object A sends a message to object B, and object B is really under the covers any of B', B'', B''', etc., then there are several ways to implement the polymorphism. delegation in the forwarding sense (slight semantic difference between the two, the latter being safer) is often not well supported in current self-professed oo languages, more is the pity i think cf. fragile base class problems. sincerely. _______________________________________________ bitc-dev mailing list [email protected] http://www.coyotos.org/mailman/listinfo/bitc-dev
