From: Austin Ziegler <austin@...>
Date: 2003-11-20T08:04:52+09:00
Subject: Re: "stereotyping" (was: Re: Strong Typing (Re: Managing metadata  about attribute types) )

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 06:05:21 +0900, Sean O'Dell wrote:
> On Wednesday 19 November 2003 12:37 pm, Weirich, James wrote:
> I agree, but "interface checking" doesn't have to involve
> developing an abstract, nor does it require inheritance.
> 
> You can say:
>   class MyFakeRuwikiClass
>     interface RuwikiClass
>   end
> 
> The above is a class which does not inherit from RuwikiClass, but
> declares itself an implementation of the RuwikiClass interface.
> Further, the original developer of RuwikiClass did not have to
> develop an abstract. The interface declaration is just a
> statement; no methods are checked, nothing is inherited. It's just
> a way to keep the developers head up about what they're doing.

It's also a lie. MyFakeRuwikiClass doesn't implement the necessary
interface. And *that*, Sean, is why name checking *of any sort* is
useless. MyFakeRuwikiClass says that it's a RuwikiClass, but it
isn't.

-austin
--
austin ziegler    * austin@halostatue.ca * Toronto, ON, Canada
software designer * pragmatic programmer * 2003.11.19
                                         * 18.02.47