From: "Patrick R. Michaud" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 21:02:54 -0500
On Wed, Jun 20, 2007 at 09:41:00PM -0400, Bob Rogers wrote:
> From: Jonathan Worthington <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 00:05:00 +0100
>
> Hi,
>
> Patrick R. Michaud wrote:
> > My first question is "How do I add a class method?" -- i.e.,
> > a method that operates on a class instance as opposed
> > to an object instance of that class . . .
>
> A method that operates on a class instance would be an instance method
> of the class metaclass, wouldn't it? But I think you meant "on a
> *particular* class [metaclass] instance", am I right?
Yes, I believe this is a better phrasing. If I want to define a
new method or or override an existing method on a metaclass instance
[a class], then how do I do that?
AFAICS, there isn't currently a good way to do that. (Depending, of
course, on whether you think Jonathan's suggestion qualifies. ;-)
Nor does PDD15 seem to cover this; it actually says very little about
metaclasses, beyond just the fact that they exist (and even then only
mentions class metaclasses).
The particular instance I'm looking at is a C<Str> class for
Perl 6, where I want the get_string vtable function for the
C<Str> metaclass instance is different from get_string of
a C<Str> class object.
To me, the phrases "C<Str> metaclass instance" and "C<Str> class object"
sound like the same thing. Did you mean "C<Str> object" in the second
case? If so, then get_string on the class metaclass would just affect
the way the class stringifies, and not any of the instances, but I don't
get the point of that. So I'm sure I must be misunderstanding you. Do
you have an example? Maybe the perl6 code you mention?
-- Bob
