Re: Generics vs. Message passing: object namespaces

On 2/23/07, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
> > I see very little different between "obj1.foo" and "(foo obj1)"
> > The noun in each is clearly obj1 and the verb is foo.  There is nothing
> > magic about the dot or the parenthesis.
>
>   Yes, there is: this discussion is about method dispatch, and
> semantically they are polar opposites.  In generic dispatch the verb is
> primary, in object dispatch the noun is primary.  These choices lead to
> nontrivially different object systems.

What do you mean by `primary'?  Is it an observable property?

When you are selecting a method through a two-dimensional dispatch (which you
must be doing regardless because that is the dimension of the method space)
it makes not one whit of difference if you choose the row first or the
column first,
you still end up at the same location.


-- 
~jrm