On Wed, Jan 08, 2003 at 05:59:14PM +0800, Damian Conway wrote: > > my Array @array := SpecialArray.new; > > > > Should the value in @array act like an Array or a SpecialArray? Most > > people would say SpecialArray, because a SpecialArray ISA Array. > > Weeeeeell...*I'd* say that @array should act like an Array (that is, you should > only be able to call the methods specified by the Array class), except that > any method calls should be polymorphically resolved to invoke the > equivalent SpecialArray methods. > > But maybe that's just saying the same thing. Is there a linguist in the house?
Will an English major do? If SpecialArray extends the interface of Array, then these two statements are not the same; the first statement gives you all of SpecialArray's functionality while the second statement gives you only a subset. --Dks
