[Off] The ... of Multiple Inheritance (was: Re: [plt-scheme] Lightweight object system)

> On 9/5/07, Matthias Felleisen <matthias at ccs.neu.edu> wrote:
>> I am still wondering why OO caught on.
>
> Because "you think about software in terms of real life objects, which
> we all understand!".
>
> How could the masses resist a tagline like that? It is easy!
>
> The secret of course is that there is a challenge to making objects
> work and like anything it takes time and effort.

On darker days I am convinced that C++ is popular because as a programmer
you can justify your existence by typing huge amounts of boilerplate code,
and juggling various levels of "Managers" back and forth. It can be useful
to have something to do in between trying to solve actual problems - I'm
only half joking...

As a C++ programmer interested in Scheme in order to escape this sort of
thing, I personally like the fact that there are various ways to do OO, I
like to think of Scheme as a place to play with these ideas and support
diversity. I was interested in the reasons behind the diversity I suppose.

I found this on the subject btw:
http://pschombe.wordpress.com/2006/04/03/why-scheme-shouldn%E2%80%99t-have-an-official-object-system/

In my experiments using "raw" closures (reinventing my own wheel) I was
surprised that this seemed simpler than some object oriented languages
which were designed for the purpose.

Don't worry though, I'd use PLT classes, or equivalent for any serious
project.

cheers,

dave