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[parrot.git] / docs / pdds / pdd15_objects.pod

# Copyright (C) 2001-2010, Parrot Foundation.
# $Id$

=head1 PDD 15: Objects and Classes

=head2 Abstract

This PDD describes the semantics of Parrot's object and class systems.

=head2 Version

$Revision$

=head2 Definitions

=head3 Object

An object is a value that incorporates both data and behavior
related to that data.

=head3 Class

A class defines a pattern of characteristics and behaviors from which
objects are constructed.

=head3 Attribute

An attribute is a slot in an object that contains a value, generally a
PMC. Attributes are referenced by class name/attribute name pairs.

Attributes are set on a class-wide basis, and all the objects of a class
will have the same set of attributes.  Most OO languages don't allow
attribute changes to existing classes, but Parrot's base attribute
system does allow it (only before the first object is instantiated from
the class).

=head3 Method

A method is a piece of code that you invoke by name through an object.
Methods implement the behaviour of an object.

=head3 Parent class

Also called the super-class. The parent class is, in an inheritance situation,
the class being derived from. If A derives from B, B is the parent class of A.

=head3 Child class

Also called the sub-class. The child class is, in an inheritance situation,
the class doing the deriving. If A derives from B, A is the child class.

=head3 Role

A role adds attributes and methods into a class without inheritance. The
composed class retains a list of roles applied to it (so they can be
checked with C<does>), but otherwise maintains no distinction between
composed attributes and methods and those defined in the class.

=head3 Delegate

An object that is transparently (to the user) embedded in another object.
Delegate objects are used in those cases where we can't inherit from a class
because the class is from a different object universe.

=head3 Property

A property is a role that only adds attributes and accessors.

Properties are generally assigned at runtime, and a particular property may or
may not exist on a PMC at any particular time. Properties are not restricted
to objects as such--any PMC may have a property attached to it.

=head3 Interface

An interface is a role that only adds methods.

=head2 Description

=over 4

=item - The object and class system provides the flexibility to
implement a core set of dynamic languages (Perl 6, Ruby, Python, etc).
Other class systems may be implemented later to support other languages.

=item - Classes may have an associated namespace. (Anonymous classes are
not associated with a namespace.)

=item - Classes may have one or more immediate parent classes

=item - Classes may have a catalog of attribute names.

=item - Classes may have a list of roles they implement

=item - Classes can instantiate an object of their class

=item - Classes can add and remove parent classes

=item - Classes can add and remove attributes

=item - Classes can add (but not remove) roles

=item - Classes are instances of a meta-class and have their own sets of
class methods and class attributes

=item - Classes can be subclassed

=item - High-level classes can subclass low-level PMCs

=item - Objects have a collection (0 or more) of attributes. Attribute
values may be PMCs or a low-level type.

=item - Objects have an associated class.

=item - Objects may have a custom vtable or use a class-wide vtable.

=item - Objects can call a method

=item - Objects can retrieve a method PMC for a method (for deferred
method calls)

=item - Objects can fetch their class

=item - Objects can get an attribute by name

=item - Objects can set an attribute by name

=back

=head2 Implementation

There are four pieces to the object implementation. There are the PMCs for the
classes, roles, and objects, the opcodes the engine uses to do objecty things,
specific vtable functions used to perform some of those objecty things, and
the supporting code provided by the interpreter engine to do the heavy
lifting.

Parrot, in general, doesn't restrict operations on objects and classes. If a
language has restrictions on what can be done with them, the language is
responsible for making sure that disallowed things do not happen.  For
example, Parrot permits multiple inheritance, and will not stop code that adds
a new parent to an existing class. If a language doesn't allow for multiple
inheritance it must not emit code which would add multiple parents to a class.
(Parrot may, at some point, allow imposition of runtime restrictions on a
class, but currently it doesn't.)


=head3 Class PMC API

There are two PMC classes, C<Class> and C<Object>.  Class PMCs hold all
the class-specific information. Instantiating a new high-level class
creates a new Class PMC, and enters the new high-level class into
Parrot's PMC class table, at which point it is indistinguishable from
any other PMC class.

It's important to note that 'standard' classes are Class PMC instances,
or instances of a subclass of the Class PMC, and 'standard' objects are
Object PMCs. It isn't necessary to create a brand new low-level PMC
class for each high-level class, and they all share the Class PMC
vtable functions.

An instance of the Class PMC has eleven core internal attributes, which
are:

=over 4

=item 1

The class name

=item 2

A link to the class's associated namespace

=item 3

A "have I been instantiated since I was last modified" flag

=item 4

An array PMC of the immediate parent classes

=item 5

A cached array of all parent PMCs, in search order (this is an optional
optimization, and can be calculated from the class's rules of inheritance,
the list of immediate parent classes, and the parent classes' rules of
inheritance)

=item 6

An array PMC of the composed roles (these are Role PMCs, not string names of
roles).

=item 7

A hash PMC of the methods defined in the class or composed into the
class

=item 8

A hash PMC of the overloaded PMC vtable entries for the class.

=item 9

The class attribute metadata hash. Keys are the attribute names and the
values are a hash of attribute characteristics, including name, type, the
class they're associated with and any flags (for example, private). Note
that this only stores metadata for the attributes defined in this class,
and not for attributes inherited from its parents.

=item 10

The full attribute lookup table. This associates attribute names with an
index into the object's attribute storage (an array). It includes all
attributes defined in the current class and every other class that it
inherits from either directly or indirectly. The table is keyed on the
name of the class where the attribute is defined, along with the
attribute name. The value is an index into the per-object attribute
store.

=item 11

The attribute cache. While the attribute lookup table defines every
attribute, whether it is visible or not with the current method
resolution order (MRO), the cache maps the names of the visible
attributes directly to an index in the per- object attribute store. That
saves a more costly lookup in the full attribute lookup table.

=back

The attribute catalog holds only the attributes defined in a particular
class. When instantiating an object, the object data store is created as
a ResizablePMCArray, so doesn't need any specific details of the class's
attribute structure. As attributes are set in the object (based on the
index in the lookup table), the Array expands to accommodate the
attribute indexes that are actually used. In the common case, a
relatively small set near the lower index range is all that will be
used.

When setting the attribute cache it is necessary to scan all parent
classes as well as the instantiated class for attributes defined there.
The inheritance rules (MRO) for a particular HLL will determine which
child class attributes override which parent class attributes.  The
cache is only set on individual accesses to a particular attribute.

Class PMCs also have the "I am a class" flag set on them.

=head4 Classes, Namespaces, and the Class Registry

If a class hasn't been instantiated, adding a method or attribute
modifies the existing class object. Extending a class that has been
instantiated is not allowed.

The class registry has a much diminished role in this implementation.
Its only responsibility is maintaining a mapping of unique IDs to class
objects throughout the system. It should not be used for looking up
classes by name.

The class registry may need to have names removed (since it doesn't care
about names anymore). We plan to eventually eliminate the registry of
class IDs altogether. Low-level PMC types also have entries in the
namespace hierarchy via PMCProxy objects. 

A class can be garbage collected when it has no instantiated objects
and no Namespace object referencing it (to mark it as live). When a
class is garbage collected, it should remove itself from the registry.


=head4 Class Vtable Entries

To make this work all Classes need the following vtable entries.

=over 4

=item instantiate()

Instantiate a new object from the class. Set the instantiated flag on the
class.

=item clone()

Create an (anonymous) clone of the class. Unset the instantiated flag on the
new class.

=item name(string *)

Returns a simple string name for the class.

=item add_method(string *, method *)

Add a method to the class.

=item add_vtable_override(string *, vtable_sub *)

Add a vtable override to the class.

=item add_attribute(string *, key *)

Add an attribute to the class.

=item add_parent(class *)

Add a parent to the class.

=item add_role(role *)

Add a role to the class.

=item find_method(string *)

Returns the PMC for the named method. If no method of this name exists, nor
can be constructed, returns a Null PMC.

A class object reports on class methods, not on instance methods.

=item isa(pmc *)

Returns true or false if the class object, namespace object, key, or
string name PMC passed in as a parameter is a class in the inheritance
hierarchy of the object.

=item isa_str(string *)

Returns true or false if the string passed in as a parameter is a
class in the inheritance hierarchy of the object.

=item can(string *)

Returns true or false if the class can perform the requested method.
(Class systems that implement default fallback methods should report
that they 'can' perform any method.)

A class object reports on class methods, not on instance methods.

=item does(class *)

Returns true or false to note whether the class in question implements the
interface passed in.

A class object only reports on interfaces of the class (i.e. roles
composed into the metaclass), it doesn't report on which interfaces will
be added to an instance of that class.

=item inspect()

Return a data structure of all information relevant to introspection on
the class.

=item inspect_str(string *)

Return a PMC Hash, Array, String, Integer, or Number value with
introspection information corresponding to the requested string name.
This may be overridden to report information about the internals of a
class that aren't actually true (useful for mocking). It can also be
used for straight introspection capabilities even when a particular
class is using keyed access to act like a hash or array or attribute
access to act as an object.

=item remove_attribute(string *)

Remove an attribute from the class.

=item remove_method(string *)

Remove a method from the class.

=item remove_parent(string *)

Remove a parent from the class.

=back

Parrot only supports mutating class metainformation for Class classes.
This restriction may be lifted at some point.

=head4 Class Methods

These methods are just syntactic sugar for the vtable functions.

=over 4

=item name

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

    $P1 = $P2.'name'( $S3 )

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

The accessor for the name attribute. With no argument, it simply returns
the current value for name. When passed an argument, it sets the name of
the class, and also sets the association with a namespace. With no
argument it only returns the current value of the name attribute.

=item get_namespace

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

    $P1 = $P2.'get_namespace'()

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Retrieve the namespace object associated with the class.

=item new

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

    $P1 = $P2.'new'( 'myattrib' => "Foo" )

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Create a new instance object from the class object. It takes an optional,
slurpy, named list of attributes and values to initialize the object.
Passing attribute names that weren't declared in the class is an error.

=item add_attribute

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1.'add_attribute'($S2)
  $P1.'add_attribute'($S2, $S3)
  $P1.'add_attribute'($S2, $P3)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Adds a single attribute to the class. It takes a simple string name and,
optionally, a simple string value or key specifying a type name. (Types
are not currently checked by Parrot, and only provided for
introspection.)

If the class has already been instantiated, adding a new attribute
throws an exception.

=item attributes

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = $P2.'attributes'()

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

An accessor for the attributes of the class. It returns the a Hash of
all attributes, with a key of the attribute name and a value of a Hash
containing the attribute's metadata. The accessor is read-only.

=item add_method

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1.'add_method'($S2, $P3)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Adds a method to the class. It takes a simple string name and a method
PMC. If the method already exists it will throw an exception.

=item methods

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = $P2.'methods'()

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

An accessor for the methods of the class. It returns a Hash of all
methods, with a key of the method name and a value of an invokable PMC.
Note that the methods list includes any methods that were composed into
the class from roles.

=item add_vtable_override

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1.'add_vtable_override'($S2, $P3)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Adds a vtable override to the class. It takes a simple string name and a
sub/method PMC. If the vtable override already exists it will throw an
exception (attempting to add the same sub/method object a second time
will be silently ignored).

=item add_parent

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1.'add_parent'($P3)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Adds a single parent to the class. It takes a Class PMC argument (the
parent to add).

=item parents

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = $P2.'parents'()

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

An accessor for the parents of the class. It returns an array of all
parents. The accessor is read-only.

=item roles

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = $P2.'roles'()

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

An accessor for the roles of the class. It returns an array of all
roles. The accessor is read-only.

=item add_role

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT_INVALID

  $P1.'add_role'($P2, [named])

=end PIR_FRAGMENT_INVALID

Adds a single role to the class. It takes an instance of the Role PMC as a
required positional parameter, and the optional named parameters C<exclude>
and C<alias>; see L<Role Conflict Resolution> for more details.

=item subclass

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = $P2.'subclass'($S3)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Create a subclass of $P2 with name $S3 and return it in $P1.

=item isa

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $I1 = $P2.'isa'($S3)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Returns true if the class name passed in as a parameter is in the inheritance
hierarchy of the class, false otherwise.

=item can

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $I1 = $P2.'can'($S3)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Returns true if the class object can perform the requested method, false
otherwise.

=item does

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $I1 = $P2.'does'($S3)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Returns true if the object in question implements the role, class, type,
or behavior passed in, false otherwise.

A class object only reports on interfaces of the class (i.e. roles composed
into the metaclass), while an instance object only reports on interfaces of
the instance (i.e. roles composed into the class).

=item inspect

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = $P2.'inspect'()
  $P1 = $P2.'inspect'($S3)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Return introspection information for the class.

=back

=head3 Object PMC API

C<Object> PMCs are the actual objects, and hold all the per-object
instance data.

An instance of the Object PMC has two core internal attributes, which
are:

=over 4

=item 1

The class PMC

=item 2

The object attribute store. This is simply an array of PMCs that provide
the values for the attributes. It may be a resizable PMC array to
provide lazy growth rather than allocating all needed memory for all
attributes. The attribute cache and lookup table in the class store the
indexes into this array, linking the attribute name and meta-information
with the storage position. 

=back

A list of the object's attributes is accessible from the class. The
attribute cache is the most straightforward way to retrieve a complete
list of attributes visible to the object, but the first time you
introspect for a complete list the class may have to calculate the list
by traversing the inheritance hierarchy.

Object PMCs have the "I am an object" flag set on them.

Object PMCs have no methods aside from those defined in their associated
class. They do have vtable functions providing access to certain low-level
information about the object, method call functionality, etc. See the
sections below on L<Objects> and L<Vtables>.

=head4 Object Vtable Entries

All Objects need the following vtable entries.

=over 4

=item find_method(string *)

Returns the PMC for the named method. If no method of this name exists,
nor can be constructed, returns a Null PMC.

Note that for languages which support default fallback methods (such as
Perl 5's AUTOLOAD) this would be the place to return it if a normal
lookup fails.

Since the method list and vtable override list are stored in the class
PMC, method finding is a lookup on the class object and not a lookup in
the namespace. Just adding a sub to a namespace will not automatically
make it a method of the class, you have to call add_method too.

An instance object reports on instance methods, not on class methods.

=item isa(class *)

Returns true or false if the class passed in as a parameter is in the
inheritance hierarchy of the object.

=item can(string *)

Returns true or false if the object can perform the requested method.
(Class systems that implement default fallback methods should report
that they 'can' perform any method.)

An instance object only reports on instance methods, not on class methods.

=item does(class *)

Returns true or false to note whether the object in question implements the
interface passed in.

An instance object only reports on interfaces of the instance (i.e. roles
composed into the class).

=item get_attr(STRING*)

Returns the attribute with the string name for the object.

=item get_attr_keyed(PMC*, STRING*)

Returns the attribute with the string name for the object. Lookup is on
the attribute store of a particular parent of the object's class,
identified by a classname, namespace, or key PMC.

=item set_attr(STRING*, PMC*)

Set the attribute with the string name for the object.

=item set_attr_keyed(PMC*, STRING*, PMC*)

Set the attribute with the string name for the object. The value is set
in the attribute store of a particular parent of the object's class,
identified by a classname, namespace, or key PMC.

=item get_class

Returns the class PMC for the object.

=item clone

Create a clone of the object.

=item inspect()

Return a data structure of all information relevant to introspection on
the object.

=item inspect_str(string *)

Return a PMC Hash, Array, String, Integer, or Number value of
introspection information corresponding to the requested string name
(such as 'parents'). This may be overridden to report information about
the internals of an object that aren't actually true (useful for
mocking). It can also be used for straight introspection capabilities
even when a particular object is using keyed access (to act like a hash
or array) or attribute access.

=back

=head3 Role PMC API

An instance of the Role PMC has five core attributes, which are:

=over 4

=item 1

The role name

=item 2

A link to the role's associated namespace

=item 3

An array PMC of composed roles

=item 4

An array PMC of the methods defined in the role or composed into the
role

=item 5

The role attribute hash, where each key is an attribute name and the
corresponding value is a hash of attribute characteristics, including
name, type, and the role they're associated with.

=back

=head4 Role Vtable Entries

All Roles need the following vtable entries.

=over 4

=item add_method(string *, method *)

Add a method to the role.

=item add_vtable_override(string *, vtable_sub *)

Add a vtable override to the role.

=item add_attribute(string *, key *)

Add an attribute to the role.

=item add_role(role *)

Add a role to the role.

=item find_method(string *)

Returns the PMC for the named method. If no method of this name exists,
nor can be constructed, returns a Null PMC.

A role object reports on class methods (methods of the metarole), not on
instance methods.

=item can(string *)

Returns true or false if the role can perform the requested method.
(Class systems that implement default fallback methods should report
that they 'can' perform any method.)

A role object reports on class methods (methods of the metarole), not on
instance methods.

=item does(class *)

Returns true or false to note whether the role in question implements the
interface passed in.

A role object only reports on interfaces of the role (i.e. roles composed into
the metarole), it doesn't report on which interfaces will be added to an
object instantiated from a class that composes the role.

=item clone

Create an (anonymous) clone of the role.

=item inspect()

Return a data structure of all information relevant to introspection on
the role.

=item inspect_str(string *)

Return a PMC Hash, Array, String, Integer, or Number value of
introspection information corresponding to the requested string name
(such as 'parents').

=item remove_attribute(string *)

Remove an attribute from the role.

=item remove_method(string *)

Remove a method from the role.

=back

=head4 Role Methods

These methods are just syntactic sugar for the vtable functions.

=over 4

=item name

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

    $P1 = $P2.'name'( $S3 )

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

The accessor for the name attribute. With no argument, it simply returns
the current value for name. When passed an argument, it sets the name of
the role, and also sets the association with a namespace.

=item get_namespace

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

    $P1 = $P2.'get_namespace'()

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Retrieve the namespace object associated with the role.

=item attributes

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = $P2.'attributes'()

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

An accessor for the attributes of the role. It returns the Hash of all
attributes, with a key of the attribute name, and a value of the
attribute's metadata (a Hash).  The accessor is read-only.

=item add_attribute

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1.'add_attribute'($S2)
  $P1.'add_attribute'($S2, $S3)
  $P1.'add_attribute'($S2, $P3)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Adds a single attribute to the role. It takes a simple string name, and
optionally, a simple string value or key specifying a type name. (A type
name just checks C<does>, and doesn't necessarily correspond to a class
or role namespace.)

=item add_role

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT_INVALID

  $P1.'add_role'($P2, [named])

=end PIR_FRAGMENT_INVALID

Adds a single role to the role. It takes an instance of the Role PMC as a
required positional parameter, and the optional named parameters C<exclude>
and C<alias>; see L<Role Conflict Resolution> for more details.

=item roles

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = $P2.'roles'()

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

An accessor for the roles composed into the role. It returns an Array of all
roles as PMC objects. If any roles that were composed into this one were
themselves made up of a composition of other roles, the roles they were made
up of will also be included in the value returned by this accessor. However,
no role will be mentioned more than once. The accessor is read-only.

=item add_method

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1.'add_method'($S2, $P3)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Adds a method to the role. It takes a simple string name and a method
PMC. If the method already exists it will throw an exception.

=item add_vtable_override

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1.'add_vtable_override'($S2, $P3)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Adds a vtable override to the role. It takes a simple string name and a
sub/method PMC. If the vtable override already exists it will throw an
exception.

=item methods

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = $P2.'methods'()

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

An accessor for the methods of the role. It returns a Hash of all methods,
with a key of the method name and a value of an invokable PMC. The list will
include methods added through composing other roles into this role. The
accessor is read-only.

=item inspect

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = $P2.'inspect'()
  $P1 = $P2.'inspect'($S3)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Return introspection information for the role.

=back

=head4 Role Conflict Resolution

When a role is added to a class, we try to compose it right away, and
throw an exception on any conflicts that are detected. A conflict occurs
if two roles try to supply a method of the same name (but see the note
on multi-methods below). High level languages will provide varying
facilities to deal with this, and Parrot provides the primitives to
implement them.

When declaring a composed class, you can optionally supply an array of
method names that will be defined by the class to resolve a conflict in
its roles. This is done using the named parameter C<resolve>. This
feature supports composition conflict resolution.

When adding a role to a class, you can optionally supply an array of
method names from the role to exclude from the composition process. This
is done using the named parameter C<exclude>. It is not an error to list
a method name in this array that the role does not have. This makes it
possible to implement languages that provide for explicit exclusions on
a role-by-role basis.

When adding a role to a class, you can optionally specify that specific
methods are to be aliased to different names within the class. This is
done with the optional C<alias> named parameter. The parameter takes
hash of strings, where the key is a method name in the role, and the
value is the name it will have in to the class. (This is also sometimes
used for conflict resolution.)

If you C<alias> a method, it won't automatically C<exclude> the original
name from the role.  You can also explicitly C<exclude> the method name,
if you want a proper renaming of the method.  A C<resolve> at the class
level will automatically C<exclude> all methods of that name from any
role composed into the class. You can C<alias> the method if you want to
call it from the composed class. (You might use this if you want the
resolving method to be able to call either of the conflicting methods
from two composed roles.)

=head3 Opcodes

The following ops are provided to deal with objects. Please note that
method calls are governed by Parrot's calling conventions, and as such
objects, method PMCs, return continuations, and parameters must be in
the right places, though some ops will put parameters where they need to
go.

=over 4

=item getattribute

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = getattribute $P2, $S3
  $P1 = getattribute $P2, $P3, $S4

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Get the attribute with the fully qualified name $S3 from object $P2 and put it
in $P1. To get an attribute for a parent class that has the same name as an
attribute in the child class, pass an optional class object or namespace key
$P3 for the parent class.

If the attribute doesn't exist, it will throw an exception. If the attribute
exists, but the value hasn't been set, it will return a null PMC.

=item setattribute

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  setattribute $P1, $S2, $P3
  setattribute $P1, $P2, $S3, $P4

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Set the attribute of object $P1 with the attribute name $S2 to $P3. To set an
attribute for a parent class that has the same name as an attribute in the
child class, pass an optional class object or namespace key $P2 for the parent
class.

If the attribute doesn't exist, it will throw an exception.

=item callmethod

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  callmethod $P1, $S1, $P2

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Call the method specified in the string name $S1 using $P1 as the invocant and
using the continuation passed in $P2. If you need to create a new continuation
use C<callmethodcc>.

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  callmethod $P1, $P2, $P3

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Call the method specified in the Sub object $P2 using $P1 as the invocant and
using the continuation passed in $P3. If you need to create a new continuation
use C<callmethodcc>.


=item callmethodcc

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  callmethodcc $P1, $S1
  callmethodcc $P1, $P2

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Call the method specified in the string name $S1, or in the Sub object $P2,
using $P1 as the invocant for method lookup and generate a new return
continuation.

Throws an exception for a non-existent method.

=item callmethodsupercc [hypothetical, 2.0 or later]

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT_TODO

  callmethodsupercc $P1, $S1
  callmethodsupercc $P1, $P2

=end PIR_FRAGMENT_TODO

Call the method specified in the string name $S1, or in the Sub object $P2,
using $P1 as the invocant for method lookup and generate a new return
continuation.  This is a variant of C<callmethodcc> that skips over the
current class when searching for the method, and only looks in the parent
classes.  PIR may provide some syntactic sugar for this.

=item callmethodnextcc [hypothetical, 2.0 or later]

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT_TODO

  callmethodnextcc $P1, $S1
  callmethodnextcc $P1, $P2

=end PIR_FRAGMENT_TODO

Call the method specified in the string name $S1, or in the Sub object $P2,
using $P1 as the invocant for method lookup and generate a new return
continuation. A variant of C<callmethodcc> that picks up an existing
C<find_method> search where it left off for the current call. {{ Note: this
depends on find_method being resumable, and on the context of a particular
method including a pointer to the find_method call that found it. Neither may
be feasible. }} PIR may provide some syntactic sugar for this.

=item newclass

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT_INVALID

  $P1 = newclass $S2
  $P1 = newclass $S2, $P3

=end PIR_FRAGMENT_INVALID

Create a new base class named $S2, and put the PMC for it in $P1. You may
optionally pass a hash of initialization parameters for the class in $P3.

=item subclass

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = subclass $S2
  $P1 = subclass $P2
  $P1 = subclass $S2, $S3
  $P1 = subclass $P2, $S3
  $P1 = subclass $S2, $P3
  $P1 = subclass $P2, $P3

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Create a new class, named $S3, which has $P2 as its immediate parent. $P2 may
be either another high-level class based on the Class PMC, or it may be a
low-level PMC such as C<Integer> or C<ResizablePMCArray>.

=item get_class

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = get_class $S2
  $P1 = get_class $P2

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Retrieve a class object for the class identified by the string name in
$S2, or by the PMC key or namespace object in $P2.

A string name looks for the class in a namespace with that name nested in the
currently selected namespace. Passing in a namespace object looks for the
class in that namespace object. A key looks for the class in the namespace
identified by the multilevel key relative to the currently selected HLL.

If the class doesn't exist, it returns a null PMC.

=item typeof

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $S1 = typeof $P2
  $P1 = typeof $P2

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Lookup the type of the instance object in $P2. Return the string name if the
destination is a string register or variable. If the destination is a PMC
register or variable, return the class object for an instance of a high-level
class, or the class proxy object for an instance of a low-level PMC.

=item new

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = new $S2
  $P1 = new $S2, $P3
  $P1 = new $P2
  $P1 = new $P2, $P3

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Create a new object from the class named by $S2 or $P2 (a string PMC,
namespace key, or class object), and put the PMC for it in $P1. You may
optionally pass a hash of initialization parameters for the class in $P3.

=item addparent

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  addparent $P1, $P2

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Add class $P2 to the end of the list of immediate parents of class $P1.
Adds any attributes of $P2 (and its parent classes) that aren't already
in $P1.

=item removeparent

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  removeparent $P1, $P2

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Remove class $P2 from the parent list of $P1. All parent classes of $P2
which aren't parent classes of what remains of $P1's parent list are
removed, as are their attributes.

=item addattribute

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT_INVALID

  addattribute $P1, $S2
  addattribute $P1, $S2, $S3
  addattribute $P1, $S2, $P3

=end PIR_FRAGMENT_INVALID

Add attribute $S2 to class or role $P1. This will add the attribute slot
to all objects of class $P1, classes that inherit from class $P1, or
classes that compose the role $P1, with a default value of C<Null>.  It
optionally takes a simple string value or key specifying a type of the
attribute.

=item removeattribute

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  removeattribute $P1, $S2

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Remove the attribute $S2 from class or role $P1. This will not remove
the attribute from any objects that have already been instantiated, but
it will be absent from all future objects of class $P1, of classes that
inherit from class $P1, or of classes that compose the role $P1.

=item addrole

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  addrole $P1, $P2

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Add role $P2 to the end of the list of roles of class or role $P1. Adds
any methods and attributes of $P2 that aren't already in $P1.

=item inspect

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = inspect $P2
  $P1 = inspect $P2, $S3

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

Return introspection information for the PMC.  Without the optional string
argument, return a data structure of all information relevant to
introspection.  With the optional string argument, return a PMC Hash, Array,
String, Integer, or Number value with introspection information corresponding
to the requested string name.

=back

=head3 PIR Class Definitions

PIR provides some syntactic sugar for declaring classes.

=over 4

=item :method

=begin PIR

  .sub custom_method :method
    # ...
  .end

=end PIR

Flags the code entity as a method.

=item :vtable

=begin PIR

  .sub get_integer :vtable
    # ...
  .end

=end PIR

Flags the code entity as a vtable override.

=back

:method and :vtable can be combined to indicate that a particular code entity
is callable both as a method and as a vtable override.

If the class object has not yet been created at the point when the PIR subs
are compiled, the methods and vtable overrides are temporarily stored in the
associated namespace.

=head3 Vtable Overriding

Classes can override vtable functions from PIR, allowing control over
the low-level behavior of objects similar to PMCs defined in C. The
vtable functions all take a single fixed argument list, and return at
most a single value. Calling the overrides directly requires some
knowledge of the way Parrot works, so higher-level languages will
generally provide easier-to-use wrappers.

To override a vtable function, either add the :vtable pragma to the
declaration of the method, or pass a named parameter "vtable" into the
C<add_method> method on a class or role.

=head2 Examples

The following examples all assume we're working with basic Object objects
and Class classes.

=head3 Creating a new class

To create a new class C<Foo> which has no parent classes:

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

   $P0 = newclass "Foo"

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

=head3 Creating a new class with multiple parents

To create a class C<Foo> with the parents C<A> and C<B>, the code would be:

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

   $P0 = get_class "A"
   $P1 = get_class "B"
   $P2 = subclass $P0, "Foo"
   addparent $P2, $P1

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

=head3 Creating a new class with attributes

Adding the attributes C<a> and C<b> to the new class C<Foo>:

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P0 = newclass "Foo"
  addattribute $P0, "a"
  addattribute $P0, "b"

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

=head3 Instantiating an object

Assuming we want an object of class C<Foo>:

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  .local pmc FooClass
  .local pmc MyObject
  FooClass = get_class "Foo"
  MyObject = FooClass.'new'()

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

=head3 Calling a method on an object

Calling the method C<Xyzzy> on an object, assuming the PDD03 calling
conventions are respected:

=begin PASM_FRAGMENT_INVALID

  callmethod "Xyzzy"

  set S0, "Xyzzy"
  callmethod

=end PASM_FRAGMENT_INVALID

Or, if a return continuation needs constructing:

=begin PASM_FRAGMENT_INVALID

  callmethodcc "Xyzzy"

  set S0, "Xyzzy"
  callmethodcc

=end PASM_FRAGMENT_INVALID

Or, calling a method in PIR, where the calling conventions are handled
automatically.

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P0.'Xyzzy'($P1)

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

=head3 Accessing attributes from within a class

With named access:

=begin PIR_FRAGMENT

  $P1 = getattribute $P0, "b"

=end PIR_FRAGMENT

=head2 Explanations

To get a new class, you can do a C<newclass>, which creates a new class
with no parents besides Parrot's default super-ish parent class.

To get a new child class, you have two potential options:

=over 4

=item Subclass the parent

=item Create a new standalone class and add a parent

=back

Both ways work. It is, however, more efficient to use the first method, and
just subclass the immediate parent class of your new class.

When adding in extra parents in a multiple-inheritance scenario, subclass the
first class in the immediate parent list then use the C<addparent> op to add
in the rest of the immediate parents.

=head2 Language Notes

Notes on some of the OO-related needs of various languages.

=head3 PMCs

Ruby: Just like Smalltalk, everything is an object.  Core Ruby classes
(String, Array, Hash, Module, etc) might be implemented something like
this:

 ParrotClass
    |
 RubyClass   String
    |         |
     \      /
    RubyString

=head3 Objectspace

Ruby: Objectspace in Ruby allows the programmer to iterate through every live
object in the system.  There is some debate about how to make this play nice
with different garbage collection schemes.

=head3 Classes

A class is a collection of methods and attributes. It would be desirable, for
those classes whose definition is fully known at compile time, to have a
convenient way to have the class along with its attributes and methods stored
into a PBC file rather than created at runtime. However, creation of new
classes at runtime will be needed too.

=head3 Meta-classes

Ruby: Ruby has meta-classes.  It would be nice if classes were objects in
Parrot's OO model.

=head3 Attributes

Attributes are instance data associated with a class (or role, however those
are supported). They may not always be of a type specified by a PMC, though
boxing/unboxing is of course an option.

Perl 6: All attributes are opaque (not externally visible, even to any
subclasses).

.Net: Attributes may be private (not externally visible), public (always
externally visible), protected (only visible to subclasses) and internal
(only visible inside the current assembly - the closest correspondence in
Parrot is perhaps only visible inside the same PBC file). Additionally, it
is allowable for a subclass to introduce an attribute of the same name as
the a parent class has, and they both exist depending on what type an
instance of the class is currently viewed as being (read: there is a
difference between the type of the reference and the type of the value).

Ruby: Attributes can be dynamically added and removed at runtime.

=head3 Methods

Perl 6: Methods may be public (anyone can invoke them) or private (only
invokable by the class they are defined in). Additionally, submethods are
methods that do not get inherited.

.Net: Like attributes, methods may be public, private, protected or internal.

Ruby: has a method_missing that gets called when method resolution fails to
find a method.  Methods can be dynamically added and removed at runtime.

=head3 Constructors

A constructor is run when an object is instantiated.

.Net: There may be many constructors for an object (provided they all have
different signatures), and the correct one is called based upon the passed
parameters.

=head3 Inheritance

Perl 6: Multiple inheritance.

.Net: Single inheritance.

Ruby: Single inheritance but support for mixins of Ruby modules.

=head3 Interfaces

An interface specifies a set of methods that must be implemented by a class
that inherits (or implements) the interface, but does not provide any form of
implementation for them.

.Net: Interfaces are pretty much what was just describe above. XXX Need to
check behavior of you implement two interfaces with methods of the same name.

=head3 Roles

A role consists of a set of methods and attributes. It cannot be instantiated
on its own, but must be composed into a class. When this happens its methods
and attributes become of that classes methods and attributes. This may happen
at compile time or runtime, however when a role is composed into a class at
runtime then what really happens is that a new anonymous class is created with
the role composed into it and then the namespace entry for the existing class
is updated to refer to the new one. Note that this means classes must be
garbage collectable, with all those referred to by a namespace or with objects
of that class existing being marked live.

Perl 6: Roles pretty much are a Perl 6 thing, so the definition above contains
all that is needed. An open question is whether Parrot worry about collision
detection? For compile time composition that's easy to punt to the compiler;
for runtime composition, that's not so easy though.

=head3 Introspection (aka Reflection)

Perl 6: Reflection provides access to a list of methods that a class has, its
parent classes and the roles it does, as well as the name of the class and its
memory address. For methods, their name, signature, return type and whether
the method is declared multi are available.

.Net: Reflection provides access to a list of attributes and methods as well
as the name of the class and its parent. The types of attributes and
signatures of methods are also available.

=head3 Inner Classes

An inner class is essentially a class defined within a class. Therefore it has
access to things private to its outer class.

Perl 6: Inner classes are allowed, and may also be private.

.Net: Inner classes are allowed and may be private, public, protected or
internal.

=head3 Delegation

Delegation is where a method call is "forwarded" to another class. Parrot may
provide support for simple cases of it directly, or could just provide a "no
method matched" fallback method that the compiler fills out to implement the
delegation.

Perl 6: Delegation support is highly flexible, even allowing a regex to match
method names that should be delegated to a particular object.

=head3 Prototype-based OO

Prototype-based OO has no classes. All objects are cloned from existing
objects and modified. Requires lightweight singleton creation, without
needing a separate class for every instance object. (Self, JavaScript, and
Io are examples of prototype-based 00.) An example from Io:

  Dog := Object clone # The Dog object is a clone of Object
  Dog tail := "long"  # it has an attribute 'tail' with the value 'long'
  Dog bark := method("yap" print) # It has a method 'bark'
  Dog bark  # call the method 'bark', printing 'yap'

=head3 Translation

The following list a set of languages, then within each language what the
Parrot term translates to.

=over 4

=item Python

=over 4

=item Attribute

A Python attribute maps to a Parrot property

=back

=item .NET

=over 4

=item Attribute

What .NET calls an attribute Parrot calls a property

=item Property

What .NET calls a property we call an attribute

=back

=item Generic Terminology

=over 4

=item Instance Variable

Instance Variables map to what we call attributes

=back

=back

=head2 Attachments

  docs/pdds/pdd15_object_metamodel.png
  
=begin html

<img src="pdd15_object_metamodel.png">

=end html

=head2 References

None.

=cut

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