On 26-Nov-2008, at 1:54 PM, Tony Garnock-Jones wrote:

> Greg A. Woods; Planix, Inc. wrote:
>> I.e. you could sort of create a subclass by simply copying the  
>> whole class definition you wish to inherit from, then modify it to  
>> your liking (this has been done an infinite number of times in uses  
>> of non-OO languages!).  However then you lose the support of the  
>> system to maintain the relationship between the shared parts of the  
>> superclass definition(s) and the subclasses that inherit from it  
>> (or indeed even just between the superclass and its sole subclass  
>> in the case where the superclass is not actually an abstract class).
>
> Traits?

Maybe.  I don't know.

I definitely don't know how Traits would/could work in Smalltalk and  
what benefit they would bring.

Does anyone have a reference to a good outline of what Traits do for  
Smalltalk?  Do they provide the ability to hide instance variables  
from subclasses -- or eliminate the need for recompiling subclasses?   
Do they simply add a new feature, or do they replace something in (or  
even all of) classes or metaclasses?

-- 
					Greg A. Woods; Planix, Inc.
					<woods at planix.ca>

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