Basic HTML version of Foils prepared May 12 1996

Foil 28 Java Features -- It's Dynamic

From CRPC Lectures on Java Language Applets Graphics CRPC Annual Meeting Tutorial -- May 14,1996. by Geoffrey C. Fox


Java model is more dynamic than C++ and closer to Smalltalk or Perl.
Subclasses don't need to to be recompiled after superclass implementation is updated.
Classes have runtime representation (implemented in terms of the Class class) which allows one to look up type of a given object instance at runtime (in C cannot know if pointer is to integer or browser!)
C++ has "fragile superclass" problem where must recompile children if change anything (method/instance variable) in a superclass or referenced class -- Java resolves references at runtime and avoids this.



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