Late binding

In computing, late binding or dynamic linkage—though not an identical process to dynamically linking imported code libraries—is a computer programming mechanism in which the method being called upon an object, or the function being called with arguments, is looked up by name at runtime. In other words, a name is associated with a particular operation or object at runtime, rather than during compilation. The name dynamic binding is sometimes used, but is more commonly used to refer to dynamic scope. With early binding, or static binding, in an object-oriented language, the compilation phase fixes all types of variables and expressions. This is usually stored in the compiled program as an offset in a virtual method table ("v-table"). In contrast, with late binding, the compiler does not read enough information to verify the method exists or bind its slot on the v-table. Instead, the method is looked up by name at runtime. The primary advantage of using late binding in Component Object Model (COM) programming is that it does not require the compiler to reference the libraries that contain the object at compile time. This makes the compilation process more resistant to version conflicts, in which the class's v-table may be accidentally modified. (This is not a concern in just-in-time compilation-compiled platforms such as .NET or Java, because the v-table is created at runtime by the virtual machine against the libraries as they are being loaded into the running application.) The term "late binding" dates back to at least the 1960s, where it can be found in Communications of the ACM. The term was widely used to describe calling conventions in languages like Lisp, though usually with negative connotations about performance. In the 1980s Smalltalk popularized object-oriented programming (OOP) and with it late binding. Alan Kay once said, "OOP to me means only messaging, local retention, and protection and hiding of state-process, and extreme late-binding of all things. It can be done in Smalltalk and in LISP.

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Late binding

Object-oriented programming

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or properties), and the code is in the form of procedures (often known as methods). A common feature of objects is that procedures (or methods) are attached to them and can access and modify the object's data fields. In this brand of OOP, there is usually a special name such as or used to refer to the current object.

Multiple dispatch

Multiple dispatch or multimethods is a feature of some programming languages in which a function or method can be dynamically dispatched based on the run-time (dynamic) type or, in the more general case, some other attribute of more than one of its arguments. This is a generalization of single-dispatch polymorphism where a function or method call is dynamically dispatched based on the derived type of the object on which the method has been called.

Class Hierarchies

Covers abstract classes, class extensions, object definitions, companion objects, and dynamic binding in Scala.

Predicate Logic: More on Quantifiers

Explores quantifiers with finite domains, uniqueness quantifier, composite statements, variable binding, and validity in logic.

The Future: Computational Linguistics and Deep Learning

Explores the influence of computational linguistics on deep learning architectures, covering grammar formalisms, connectionism, variable binding, and future directions.

Qualified Inheritance in Spatio-Temporal Databases

Pier Donini

In a growing number of applications, different complementary views of real-world objects are needed. This is particularly true in spatial modelling - where the designer can propose different geometrie

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