An object protocol for the Icon language

This page describes how I do object-oriented programming in the Icon language. My example programs use some, but not all, of the classic object-oriented techniques.

• Each object is an abstract data type consisting of a bundle of state and an accompanying set of methods (procedures) that are the only permissible route for changing the state of the object.
• I've used some polymorphism, but haven't needed it much.
• I don't use a lot of inheritance, preferring delegation as described in Erich Gamma's Design Patterns. For example, if an object can be structured into trees, the classic approach is to invent a Tree class and then customize it. Instead, I wrote a generic tree class, and if an object has ``tree-ness,'' it points to the related tree-node object, and delegates such operation as ``find parent'' or ``enumerate children'' to that object.

Continue to the parts topic for a description of the actual Icon conventions.

Last updated: 2002/09/28 21:39:18
URL: http://www.nmt.edu/~shipman/soft/clean/iconobjects.html