Common Lisp the Language, 2nd Edition

28. Common Lisp Object System

PREFACE: X3J13 voted in June 1988 (CLOS)   to adopt the first two chapters (of three) of the Common Lisp Object System specification as a part of the forthcoming draft Common Lisp standard.

This chapter presents the bulk of the first two chapters of the Common Lisp Object System specification; it is substantially identical to these two specification chapters as previously published elsewhere [5,6,7]. I have edited the material only very lightly to conform to the overall style of this book and to save a substantial number of pages by using a typographically condensed presentation. I have inserted a small number of bracketed remarks, identified by the initials GLS. The chapter divisions of the original specification have become section divisions in this chapter; references to the three chapters of the original specification now refer to the three ``parts'' of the specification. (See the Acknowledgments to this second edition for acknowledgments to others who contributed to the Common Lisp Object System specification.) This is not the last word on CLOS; X3J13 may well refine this material further. Keene has written a good tutorial introduction to CLOS [26].

- Guy L. Steele Jr.

• Programmer Interface Concepts
  • Error Terminology
  • Classes
    • Defining Classes
    • Creating Instances of Classes
    • Slots
    • Accessing Slots
  • Inheritance
    • Inheritance of Methods
    • Inheritance of Slots and Slot Options
    • Inheritance of Class Options
    • Examples
  • Integrating Types and Classes
  • Determining the Class Precedence List
    • Topological Sorting
    • Examples
  • Generic Functions and Methods
    • Introduction to Generic Functions
    • Introduction to Methods
    • Agreement on Parameter Specializers and Qualifiers
    • Congruent Lambda-Lists for All Methods of a Generic Function
    • Keyword Arguments in Generic Functions and Methods
  • Method Selection and Combination
    • Determining the Effective Method
    • Standard Method Combination
    • Declarative Method Combination
    • Built-in Method Combination Types
  • Meta-objects
    • Metaclasses
    • Standard Metaclasses
    • Standard Meta-objects
  • Object Creation and Initialization
    • Initialization Arguments
    • Declaring the Validity of Initialization Arguments
    • Defaulting of Initialization Arguments
    • Rules for Initialization Arguments
    • Shared-Initialize
    • Initialize-Instance
    • Definitions of Make-Instance and Initialize-Instance
  • Redefining Classes
    • Modifying the Structure of Instances
    • Initializing Newly Added Local Slots
    • Customizing Class Redefinition
    • Extensions
  • Changing the Class of an Instance
    • Modifying the Structure of an Instance
    • Initializing Newly Added Local Slots
    • Customizing the Change of Class of an Instance
  • Reinitializing an Instance
    • Customizing Reinitialization
• Functions in the Programmer Interface