[Python-Dev] Classes and Metaclasses in Smalltalk

[Greg Ewing]

Michel Pelletier <michel@digicool.com>:

> I was under the impression
> from talking to JimF that Smalltalk eventually stopped at a class
> that is a subclass of itself.

Some years ago, while playing with Sun's Postscript-based
NeWS window system, I devised an OO language (called P) that 
got translated into PostScript. It had a very Smalltalk-like
class/metaclass system, although rather simpler than what
JimF described. As I remember, the kernel consisted
of a little knot of about 6 classes with some interesting
incestuous relationships between them.

If anyone's interested, I could dig out the code and
provide details of how it all worked. There might be some
ideas that could be used in Python.

(Programming in P felt a lot like programming in Python,
by the way. If my name had been Guido, who knows where it
might have led!)

Greg Ewing, Computer Science Dept, +--------------------------------------+
University of Canterbury,	   | A citizen of NewZealandCorp, a	  |
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