···············@yahoo.com wrote:
> It sounds like CHANGE-CLASS.
Nope, that's for objects. (i.e., changing the class of an object)
In MOP terms, what they describe is similar to reinitialize-instance
invoked on class metaobjects, or from a user's perspective, simply
changing the defclass form of an existing class.
The Microsoft patent sounds as if existing objects created with the
previous definition of a class are not affected. (Ah, and it seems to be
a compile-time-only feature...) That would be a difference to CLOS: When
you change the definition of a class in CLOS, all existing objects are
updated to reflect the new class definition.
IANAL, so I don't know whether this counts as prior art. But I prefer
the CLOS version. (of course... ;)
Pascal
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2nd European Lisp and Scheme Workshop
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