LISP and Symbolic Computation, 4(2)143-154

Designing a Browser to Support Multimethods and Method Combination

Timothy Koschmann, Department of Medical Education Southern Illinois University, School of Medicine, P.O. Box 19230, Springfield, Illinois 62794-9230 USA; and Dept. of Computer Science, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Carbondale, Illinois 62901-4511 USA

Abstract: This paper describes some of the design considerations in developing a tool for maintaining generic functions in the proposed Common Lisp Object-Oriented System (CLOS). It is argued that tools based on class lattices provide insufficient support for programming in a language that utilizes multimethods and method combination. A new type of browser, known as a Generic Function Browser (GFB), was designed to handle the more complicated style of procedure definition offered in CLOS. Some simple examples of the use of this tool are provided, along with a discussion of the philosophy underlying its design.

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May 2003 - hosc@brics.dk