Extending Tcl for Dynamic Object-Oriented Programming
David Wetherall and Christopher J. Lindblad
Telemedia Networks and Systems Group
Laboratory for Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Object Tcl is an extension to the Tool Command Language (Tcl) for the
management of complicated data types and dynamic object-oriented
programming in general. We believe it is a worthy alternative to other
object-oriented programming extensions (including [incr Tcl]) because
it may be used dynamically, allows for per object specialization, has
an economy of design and implementation, and provides a
metaobject-based class system. Its design was driven by our VuSystem
application needs to create a foundation with powerful abstraction and
introspection capabilities, yet we sought to retain both the spirit
and benefits of Tcl. This paper presents Object Tcl, emphasizing
language design and implementation issues by comparing it with
alternative systems.
Download the full text of this paper in
ASCII (28,521 bytes) and
POSTSCRIPT (4,566,856 bytes) form.
To Become a USENIX Member, please see our
Membership Information.