Re: c.d.theory glossary -- definition of "class"

Tom Hester wrote (in several posts):

> ...in most OO languages a class IS an object, after all

> A class is an object because it behaves as an object.
> A class has methods, methods to instantiate instances for example.

> Another way to put this is that in a metamodel 'object' is the more
> primitive concept and 'class' is defined in terms of object. So, class is a
> descendant of object in the inheritance hierarchy for the metamodel.

Object being the more primitive concept sounds right to me.

However, 'defined in terms of' is broader than just 'descendant in the inheritance hierarchy', IMHO.

Peano defines natural numbers in terms of the 'successor' operation, successor being the more primitive/basic concept. Do you see the relation between 'natural numbers' and 'successor' as inheritance? Received on Wed Jun 23 2004 - 14:50:55 CEST