Since most readers will be familiar with a other object systems, we begin with an example use of MzScheme's object system to illustrate its particular style.
(define stack<%> (interface () push! pop! empty?)) (define stack% (class* null (stack<%>) () (private [stack null]) ; A private instance variable (public [name 'stack] ; A public instance variable [push! (lambda (v) (set! stack (cons v stack)))] [pop! (lambda () (let ([v (car stack)]) (set! stack (cdr stack)) v))] [empty? (lambda () (null? stack))] [print-name (lambda () (display name) (newline))]))) (define named-stack% (class stack% (stack-name) (public [name stack-name]) (sequence (super-init)))) (define double-stack% (class stack% () (inherit push!) (public [name 'double-stack] [double-push! (lambda (v) (push! v) (push! v))]) (sequence (super-init)))) (define-values (make-safe-stack-class is-safe-stack?) (let ([safe-stack<%> (interface (stack<%>))]) (values (lambda (super%) (class* super% (safe-stack<%>) () (inherit empty?) (rename [std-pop! pop!]) (public [name 'safe-stack] [pop! (lambda () (if (empty?) #f (std-pop!)))]) (sequence (super-init)))) (lambda (obj) (implementation? (object-class obj) safe-stack<%>))))) (define safe-stack% (make-safe-stack-class stack%))
The interface stack<%> describes the usual stack implementation with push!, pop!, and empty? methods. The class stack% implements this interface in the usual way. Three classes are derived from this basic implementation:
The creation of safe-stack% illustrates the use of classes as first-class values. Applying make-safe-stack-class to named-stack% or double-stack% -- indeed, any class with push, pop!, and empty? methods -- creates a ``safe'' version of the class. A stack object can be recognized as a safe stack by testing it with is-safe-stack?; this predicate returns #t only for instances of a class created with make-safe-stack-class (because only those classes implement the safe-stack<%> interface).
In each of the example classes, the instance variable name contains the name of the class. The name declarations in named-stack%, double-stack%, and safe-stack% override the declaration in stack%. Thus, when the print-name method of an object from double-stack% is invoked, the name printed to the screen is ``double-stack''.
While all of named-stack%, double-stack%, and safe-stack% inherit the push! method of stack%, it is declared with inherit only in double-stack%; this is because new declarations in named-stack% and safe-stack% do not need to refer to push!, so the inheritance does not need to be declared. Similarly, only safe-stack% needs to declare (inherit empty?).
The safe-stack% class overrides pop! to extend the implementation of pop!. The new definition of pop! must access the original pop! method that is defined in stack%. The rename declaration binds a new name, std-pop! to the original pop!. Then, std-pop! is used in the overriding pop!. Variables declared with rename cannot be overridden, so std-pop! will always refer to the superclass's pop!.
The make-object procedure creates an object from a class; additional arguments to make-object are passed on as initialization arguments. Here are some object creations using the classes defined above:
(define stack (make-object stack%))
(define fred (make-object named-stack% 'Fred))
(define joe (make-object named-stack% 'Joe))
(define double-stack (make-object double-stack%))
(define safe-stack (make-object safe-stack%))
Note that an extra argument is given to make-object for the named-stack% class because named-stack% requires one initialization argument (the stack's name).
The ivar and send forms are used to access the instance variables of an object. The ivar form looks up a variable by name. The send form uses ivar to extract a variable's value, which should be a procedure; it then applies the procedure to arguments. For example, here is a simple expression that uses the objects created above:
((ivar stack push!) fred) ; or (send stack push! fred)
(send stack push! double-stack)
(let loop ()
(if (not (send stack empty?))
(begin
(send (send stack pop!) print-name)
(loop))))
This loop displays 'double-stack and 'Fred to the standard output port.