From: Fabrice Le Fessant <fessant@pa.dec.cmo>
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 08:56:41 -0700 (PDT)
To: caml-list@inria.fr
Subject: Objects contrib: new URL ...
Sorry, the previous link was false.
The patch is available at:
http://pauillac.inria.fr/~lefessan/src/patch.cast.gz
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I have made a small patch to ocaml-2.02 to allow safe casts of objects.
The patch adds two new keywords "implements" and "cast".
- "implements" ("implements c1 c2") is used to declare that objects
from a class c1 can be cast to the type of another class
c2. Implements checks at compile time that such a cast is
safe. Polymorphic classes (class ['a] ...) are not allowed as
"implements" parameters. However, derived classes are allowed
(class b = [int] t). By default, casting objects to their original class
is always allowed without using "implements", but all other casts must be
precedeed by an "implements" which allows them.
- "cast" ("cast o1 c1") is used to cast an object o1 to the type of a class c1.
A runtime check is performed to verify that the original class of the object
can be cast to the new class (thanks to an "implements" instruction). If
not correct, a (Failure "Cast failure") is raised.
Here is an example of use. Such a cast is interesting to retrieve the
original type of an object after it has been subtyped to be stored in
a generic structure.
class t1 () =
object
method a = 0
end;;
class t2 () =
object
method b = 1
method a = 0
end;;
let o1 = new t1 ();;
let o2 = new t2 ();; (* val o2 : t2 *)
let x = (o2 :> t1);; (* val x : t1 *)
let y = cast x t2;; (* cast x to its original class, val y : t2 *)
implements t2 t1;; (* t2 implements the interface of t1 *)
let x = (o2 :> < >);; (* val x: < > no methods *)
let y = cast x t1;; (* cast x to the interface of t1, val y : t1 *)
let z = cast o1 t2;; (* ERROR: Failure "Cast failure" *)
implements t1 t2;; (* ERROR: not (t1 :> t2) *)
- Fabrice
Homepage: http://pauillac.inria.fr/~lefessan
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