The Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS)

The Center for Education and Research in
Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS)
Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security

Self: The Power of Simplicity

Author

David Ungar, Randall B. Smith

Entry type

article

Abstract

Self is an object-oriented language for exploatory programming based on a small number of simple and concrete ideas: prototypes, slots, and behaviors. Prototypes combine inheritance and instantiation to provide a framework that is simpler and more flexible than most object-oriented languages. Slots unite variables and procudures into a single construct. This permits the inheritance hierarchy to take over the function of lexical scoping in conventional languages. Finally, because Self does not distinguish state from behavior, it narrows the gaps between ordinary objects, prodecures, and closures. Self's simplicity and expressiveness offer insight into object-oriented computation.`

Date

1991

Address

Mountain View, CA, USA

Journal

LISP AND SYMBOLIC COMPUTATION

Key alpha

Ungar

Publisher

Sun Microsystems Laboratories

Affiliation

Sun Microsystems Laboratory

Publication Date

1991-00-00

Contents

1 Introduction 2 Prototypes: Blending Classes and Instances 3Blending State adn Behavior 4 Closures and Methods 5Speculation: Where is Self Headed? 6 Sytax 7 Examples 8 Related Work 9 Conclusion

Copyright

1994

Language

English

Location

A hard-copy of this is in the Papers Cabinet

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